Jiri Vesely seals 'unbelievable' win over Novak Djokovic to reach Dubai semi-finals

There are only two active players who hold winning records against Novak Djokovic having played him more than once. Nope, not Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but Nick Kyrgios and now Jiri Vesely.

The Czech, a former world No 35 but currently ranked outside the top 120, may have beaten Djokovic back in 2016 at the Monte Carlo Masters but he was given little hope of repeating the feat when the pair met in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarter-finals on Thursday evening. The doubters, it turned out, included himself.

"I never thought I would really have a chance against Novak, he's one of the greatest of all time," Vesely said, immediately after his remarkable 6-4, 7-6 victory over the 20-time Grand Slam champion. Asked how much confidence from his previous win over Djokovic he had taken into this match, Vesely simply replied: "Not much."

Granted, Djokovic was below his irrepressible best but Vesely was magnificent, both on the court and in his head; playing inspired tennis and serving bombs while holding his nerve in key moments. That is typically what it takes to bring down the Serb: hope he has a slight off day while the other guy plays out of his skin.

The result may have come as a surprise - and led to major ramifications for the ATP Tour world rankings - but Vesely's performance shouldn't. While Djokovic was bringing the house down on a packed Centre Court during his second-round win over Karen Khachanov on Wednesday, Vesely was quietly taking apart eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut over on Court One - that after cruising past former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the first round.

In fact, the only time Vesely has dropped sets so far this week was in both rounds of qualifying.

The 28-year-old left-hander