Novak Djokovic booked his place in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals before quickly turning his sights towards settling a London score with Dominic Thiem.

“I played him here last year and lost in the third set,” Djokovic recalled on court at the O2 Arena after his victory over Alexander Zverev on Friday, already thinking about his rematch with the Austrian US Open champ.

“It was a thrilling match. Hopefully we’ll have another great match …. with a different outcome.”

Djokovic’s victory means the four top seeds have all reached the semi-finals for only the second time since 1990, with Rafael Nadal taking on Daniil Medvedev in the other last-four clash.

Djokovic, who is chasing a record-equalling sixth title, was still not at his best against Zverev but played, and fought, a lot better than in his convincing loss to Medvedev on Wednesday.

He won the first seven points of the match and then withstood everything Zverev threw at him in the second set before playing a near-flawless tiebreak.

Djokovic has beaten Thiem in seven of their 11 meetings but the Austrian not only came out on top in London last year but also in the 2019 French Open semi-finals.

Djokovic, though, gained revenge in a five-set final at the Australian Open in Melbourne at the beginning of this year.

“I have lots of respect for Dominic, his game, his work ethic,” said Djokovic. “Every time we got to play in the last three or four matches, it was some marathon, thrilling encounters.

“It’s semi-finals so I’m expecting a tough battle. He’s in very good form. He loves to play on this surface. He played finals last year, beat Roger (Federer) and myself.

“He’s a grand slam champion, obviously that’s a huge boost for him.

“If I manage to play as well as I did today and show up with a high quality of tennis, I think I have a good chance to win. I’m just hoping I can start off the match as well as I did today.”