Novak Djokovic recovered from one set down to beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic and reach the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.
The Serbian, who will take the world number one ranking from Rafael Nadal on Monday, won 4-6 6-2 6-3 to extend his winning run to 21 matches.
Djokovic, winner of the Wimbledon and US Open championships this year, will now face Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori for a place in Sunday’s final.
The 14-time major winner, 31, lost his cool in the second set after an outburst at his own box, before breaking his racket in the third.
But Djokovic, the number two seed, remains on course to win a fifth Paris Masters title after sealing the win in two hours and 12 minutes.
Russian Karen Khachanov ran out a comfortable 6-1 6-2 winner against fourth seed Alexander Zverev in their last-eight encounter.
The world number 18, who needed just over an hour to beat Zverev, will face Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals.
Thiem, the French Open finalist, came from behind to win 4-6 6-4 6-4 against Jack Sock, who won the title in Paris last year.
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '00e4f717-7916-4487-adfe-1bdd82a5137d');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story-enriched');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:tennis');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Djokovic sees off Cilic threat to book semi-final spot at Paris Masters'});
