Tennis Superstar, Novak Djokovic battled through a spirited performance from Taylor Fritz on Tuesday morning, January 23, to reach the Australian Open semi-finals and stay on track for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title.
The Serbian world number one struggled with the strong sunshine early in the contest but came through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will play Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev for a place in Sunday’s final.
“It was extremely hot when the sun was still out there,” Djokovic said after the match at Rod Laver Arena, which lasted three hours and 45 minutes.
“Physically and emotionally very draining. Huge round of applause to Fritz for a great performance today and this tournament.
“Conversion of the breakpoints was really poor, but I think at the end of the day I managed to break him when it really mattered, the third and the fourth.”
The win was Djokovic’s 33rd consecutive victory in Melbourne, a startling run stretching back to 2018. He did not compete at the event in 2022 due to being banned from entering the country due to coronavirus vaccination laws.
The 36-year-old came into the match with a perfect 8-0 record against the American 12th seed and it was business as usual as the Serb — more used to playing night matches in Melbourne — edged a gruelling first set that lasted 84 minutes.
Fritz, who survived eight break points in the opening set, fought off seven more points during the second set to pull level.
Djokovic finally won a breakpoint at his 16th attempt to take control of the third set and broke again to leave himself one set away from victory.
Victory leaves the Serb just two wins from standing alone as the only player in history male or female to have collected 25 Grand Slam singles titles.
Djokovic, who has never failed to win the Australian Open once he has reached the semi-finals, is level with Margaret Court on 24 majors.
But he is already out on his own in men’s tennis two majors ahead of the injured Rafael Nadal and four ahead of the retired Roger Federer.