Novak Djokovic celebrated his 38th birthday in style with a fiery quarter-final victory against Matteo Arnaldi at the Geneva Open.
The world No 6 prevailed 6-4, 6-4 over the 39th-ranked Italian at the ATP 250 clay-court event.
The win gave Djokovic sweet revenge for the shock 3-6, 4-6 defeat he suffered at Arnaldi's hands in his opening match at the Madrid Open last month, levelling their head-to-head record at 1-1.
Djokovic earned the only break of the opening set in the third game and did not face a break point in his five service games.
Novak Djokovic smashed a tennis racket during his win at the Geneva Open
TennisTV
The Serbian appeared to be cruising after taking the first set.
However, the match took a dramatic turn in the second set when Arnaldi began to gather momentum.
The Italian hustled his way to two break points at 2-1 up and converted one of them when Djokovic's backhand went long.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion soon found himself trailing 4-1 in the second set.
It was at this point that Djokovic completely lost his cool. Immediately after the 'out' call was made, the 38-year-old launched his racket into the ground and destroyed it with one hit.
The Geneva crowd voiced their disapproval at Djokovic's furious outburst as boos and jeers rang out around Centre Court.
But the Serbian regathered his composure in remarkable fashion, reeling off the next five games to secure the straight-sets victory and book his spot in the semi-finals.
Novak Djokovic is still going strong at 38
PA
After the match, Djokovic acknowledged the tension on court despite the straight-sets scoreline.
"Today there was a lot of tension on the court. It was a straight-sets win but it was much closer than maybe the score indicates," he said.
"I was 4-1 down in the second and somehow, I don't know, after that racket breaking, I didn't lose the game and kind of found my optimal state and balance mentally and emotionally to really be able to play the best tennis when it was most needed."
The birthday boy was even presented with a cake on court after his victory.
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Happy Birthday, @DjokerNole 🥳 pic.twitter.com/hbdA3B6T1J
Djokovic will face either Alexei Popyrin or Cameron Norrie in Friday's semi-finals as he aims to go further than last year's last-four appearance in Geneva.
"It's great to be in the semi-finals again, last year I played semi-finals," Djokovic said. "Hopefully, this year I can go at least a step further. That's the goal."
The win is a significant boost for Djokovic ahead of the French Open, which begins on Sunday, as it ended a three-match losing streak following his victory over Marton Fucsovics in the previous round.
