Novak Djokovic enters history books with nine semi-finals at all four Majors

In the third straight match at Melbourne Park, Novak Djokovic had to dig deep to secure the Australian Open semi-final spot, beating Alexander Zverev 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 in three and a half hours.

Thus, Novak is through to his ninth Australian Open semi-final, becoming the first player in the Open era with that many appearances at all four Majors, in another testimony of his incredible consistency. Novak has 11 US Open semi-finals and ten at Roland Garros, followed by nine at Wimbledon and now the Australian Open.

Struggling with an abdominal injury since the third set against Taylor Fritz in the third round, Novak prevailed in five sets and edging Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev in four sets to find himself in the last four, spending nine hours and 50 minutes on the court against those three rivals! Zverev gave his everything to stay in touch, opening an early advantage in three sets against Novak but winning only one of those. Novak fired 23 aces and fended off nine out of 12 break chances. The Serb earned six breaks and kept his focus in the decisive moments to seal the deal in four sets and remain on the title course.

Djokovic came back from 4-2 down in the opening set and saved a set point in game nine before pulling the break back in the next one. Zverev won the tie break 8-6 before Djokovic shifted into a higher gear in set number two to take it 6-2 in under 30 minutes. Trailing 4-1 in the third, Novak rattled off 20 of the next 26 games to grab five straight breaks and steal the set 6-4.

Zverev built another advantage in the fourth set before Djokovic returned to the positive side and saved a set point at 5-6 to reach another tie break. Alexander moved 5-4 up with an ace down the T line, and Novak won the next two points on serve for a 6-5 lead and a match point, denied by Zverev for more drama. Djokovic scored the only mini-break in the 13th point and sealed the deal with the 23rd ace to move into the next round.