Nole is just two wins from his 100th career title.
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down to defeat Jakub Mensik 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 in Shanghai on Friday.
The four-time champion sealed the win in two hours and 19 minutes to reach his 78th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
Novak advanced to the last four at the Rolex Shanghai Masters for a ninth time.
With the triumph, the Serbian star improved to 36-8 on the season.
“We went toe-to-toe until the last moment,” said Djokovic. “I was fortunate to find great serves in the last game, a couple of aces, that helps. I didn’t serve that well at the end of the first set when I was serving for it. He managed to turn things around by playing a good tie-break. I stayed collected and started off very well in the second set, I felt that we both had a physical crisis at the beginning of the set. We pushed each other a lot, a lot of long rallies. It was a tough battle, almost two and a half hours.”
Match statistics: aces (7-17), double faults (1-6), winners (17-21), unforced errors (13-32), total points won (103-88).
Novak will next face seventh seed Taylor Fritz, who claimed a dominant 6-3, 6-4 victory against David Goffin.
Photo: Profimedia
