24-time Grand Slam winner, Novak Djokovic, secured a spot in the last four of the 2024 Australian Open after a 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-2 6-3 win over America's Taylor Fritz on Tuesday.
The number one seed and reigning men's singles champion came into his quarter-final contest having dropped just two sets in the tournament so far.
After the first game of the match took 16 minutes, Djokovic began to set up multiple opportunities to break Fritz, but he was not able to convert any of them.
The hot conditions appeared to be affecting the Serbian's performance levels and nearly cost him as Fritz came close to taking the opening set 7-5 as he had two set points. Djokovic was able to prevent any breaks by holding his serve and subsequently sent the set to a tie-break.
Djokovic wasted no time in getting in front in the tie-break as he led 4-0 at one point, before eventually winning 7-3, to take the first set after a gruelling 84 minutes of action.
The second set saw Fritz take his opportunities as he broke Djokovic in the very first game. The American also managed to fend off more break points by his opponent and kept his serve throughout the set to take it 6-4 and level the contest.
Early in the third set, Djokovic broke Fritz for the first time in the match as he began to dominate proceedings and showcase his regular form to the Melbourne crowd. After holding serve for the rest of the set, Djokovic then broke Fritz again to take the third set 6-2 and move ahead in the contest.
The fourth set began with both players holding serve but Djokovic broke Fritz in the sixth match to lead 4-2 and be within touching distance of winning. However, Fritz remained spirited and was able to stay in the contest a little longer as he immediately broke Djokovic back to make it 4-3.
However, that was to be the end of Fritz's best efforts as Djokovic pulled away to win the next two games and close out the set 6-3. This secured the match for Djokovic and it extended his remarkable winning run at the Australian Open to 33 matches.
Whilst Djokovic will be satisfied with the victory, the match will have taken plenty out of him as it lasted just under four hours. Also, the strong heat meant both players had to exhaust more energy.
Afterwards, the 10-time Australian Open champion offered his thoughts on his rugged win over Fritz, saying: "I suffered a lot in the first couple of sets. Also due to his high-quality tennis. He was really kind of suffocating me from the back of the court."
Djokovic added: "It was really difficult to find the right timing, it was really hot while the sun was still out. Conversion of the breakpoints was really poor, but I managed to break him when it mattered. I think I upped my game midway through the third set all the way through to the end."
Djokovic's quest for his 11th Australian Open will continue on Friday when he faces Jannik Sinner in the semi-final. The Italian secured his place in the last four after beating Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 on Tuesday.
The other semi-final match-up in the men's singles will be decided by Wednesday's two quarter-final contests. The winner of Hubert Hurkacz and Daniil Medvedev will face the winner of Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz in the last four.
In the women's singles on Tuesday, reigning champion, Aryna Sabalenka, beat Barbora Krejcikova 6-2 6-3 to advance to the semi-final. This continues the Belarusian's dominant form at this tournament with her yet to drop a single set so far.
Sabalenka will face Coco Gauff in a highly anticipated final-four clash on Thursday after the American advanced with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk on Tuesday. This was the first match in which Gauff dropped a set at this year's Australian Open.
The upcoming semi-final contest between Sabalenka and Gauff is a rematch of last year's US Open final, which Gauff came out on top in.
The winners of Wednesday's matches between Linda Noskova and Dayana Yastremska, and Anna Kalinskaya and Qinwen Zheng, will play each other in the other semi-final match on Thursday.
