Djokovic enter semis; Konta beats Ostapenko

Novak Djokovic continued his Wimbledon preparations by beating American Donald Young 6-2, 7-6(9) on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Aegon International tournament at Eastbourne.

The three times Wimbledon champion survived two set points, one with Young serving at 5-4 and the other on his own serve in the tiebreak at 5-6, before clinching victory with his fourth match point after the American double-faulted.

The Serbian world number four will now play either fourth seeded American Steve Johnson or Russian Daniil Medvedev on Friday for a place in the final of the south coast grass tournament.

Top seed Djokovic - the highest ranked male player to compete at Eastbourne since 1999 - was the first through to the semis after an hour and 35 minutes on court.

"I enjoyed it, especially in the second set," he said. "The first set went my way and I played well. I felt good on the court and had some break point opportunities early in the second set.

"He served for the set, had a set point and then had set point in the tie-break ... Obviously, it could have gone easily his way. But it hasn't, and I'm just glad the way I kind of held my composure, my nerves.

"This is the kind of match situation that I was looking forward to having, and I'm glad it happened today and I managed to overcome that."

Second seed Gael Monfils earlier beat British wild card Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals in a match that resumed after being halted by rain on Wednesday with the score at 6-3, 2-1.

The Frenchman's next opponent is Australian Bernard Tomic, who upset German sixth seed Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-2 in 51 minutes.

Seventh seed Richard Gasquet saved three break points on his way to beating South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to set up a clash with third seeded American John Isner.

Konta beats Ostapenko to set up quarter-final with Kerber

Britain's Johanna Konta beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 on Thursday to set up a quarter-final with world number one Angelique Kerber in the Aegon International tournament at Eastbourne.

Two days of rain delays at the south coast grass court event left a backlog of matches with Konta, who grew up in Eastbourne and is Britain's big hope in the Wimbledon women's draw next week, one of several facing a punishing schedule.

The last-four clash was due to follow only hours later.

"I think the scoreline and the match itself shows that it was an incredibly tough battle and there was very little in it," Konta, the Australian-born fifth seed, said on court after seeing off the 20-year-old Latvian.

"Against a player like her who has such a big game, sometimes it's difficult to accept that you haven't got much say in some points."

Konta, set to become the first British woman ranked in the world's top 10 at Wimbledon since 1984, had to rally from a break down in the deciding set to end her opponent's eight-match winning streak.

She then won the final four games and saved a break point in the tense final one, in which Ostapenko also saved two match points, before clinching victory in two hours and 18 minutes.

Konta expected a very different kind of match against Kerber.

"I'm going to prepare the best I can for it and most importantly recover as quick as I can after this round and just really enjoy the fact that I've got another match today," she said.

"I'm not the only one in this position today, so I'm sure everyone's playing mainly on adrenaline."

If Konta beats Kerber, who overcame Spain's Lara Arruabarrena 6-2, 6-1, Romanian Simona Halep could take the world number one ranking by reaching the final.

Second seed Halep beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-7(6), 7-6(4) 7-5 in her third round match.

Lauren Davis, of the United States, overcame eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6, 6-1 in a rain-delayed match before then losing in the third round to Barbora Strycova, of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2.

British number three Heather Watson gave the home fans another quarter-finalist by beating Russian 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3.