24 January,2024 06:23 AM IST | Melbourne | AFP
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic uses ice packs on his head between games against USA’s Taylor Fritz in Melbourne yesterday. Pic/AFP
Top seed Novak Djokovic battled into an 11th Australian Open semi-final and a record-extending 48th at Grand Slams on Tuesday, but a rampant Aryna Sabalenka had a much easier ride.
The Serbian superstar came through a probing test on Rod Laver Arena against 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to keep his bid for an unprecedented 25th major crown on track.
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He will meet in-form Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner, who swept past Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3. Djokovic almost always gets the evening slot on centre court, but was bumped to the afternoon on a day on which temperatures soared to 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and the World No. 1 admitted it was tough going. "Physically and emotionally very draining," he said after the three hour and 45 minute epic, adding that he "suffered a lot" in the first two sets.
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"He was serving well, staying close to the line and kind of suffocating me from the back of the court. I think I upped my game probably midway through the third set all the way to the end," he said.
In contrast to Djokovic's long slog, fellow defending champion Sabalenka was off court in just 71 minutes, crushing ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 with minimum fuss. She will face fourth seed Coco Gauff next in a replay of last year's US Open final that the American teenager won in three sets.
"I love it, I love it. After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge, and, I mean, that's a great match," Sabalenka said of her semi-final.
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