Djokovic Advances To Australian Open Semis After Beating Fritz
Serbian tennis sensation Novak Djokovic continued his dominance over Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open, sealing a 7-6(3) 4-6 6-2 6-3 win over the 12th-seeded American on Tuesday to move into a record-extending 48th Grand Slam semi-final.
The 36-year-old defending champion had beaten Fritz in all eight of their previous meetings, including a five-set win at Melbourne Park in 2021 and a crushing victory at the US Open last year.
But Djokovic has taken his time to get going at this year’s tournament as he seeks an 11th title and 25th major to surpass Margaret Court’s haul, and the top-seeded Serb was unable to break in a marathon first game that had nine deuces.
Fritz saved eight break points and went toe to toe with his opponent in energy sapping conditions, before setting up two set points.
But Djokovic saved them both to force a tiebreak, where he took his level up a few notches.
Djokovic cooled off by placing ice packs on his head in the third set but he was only comfortable after finally breaking his opponent on his 16th attempt en route to a 2-0 lead, which gave him the platform to push on and win the set.
Fritz appeared to struggle with his movement at times in the fourth set and Djokovic moved in for the kill to break in the sixth game, before fending off a comeback attempt from Fritz to prevail.
Through to an 11th #AusOpen Semi-Final. We’ll let you run the numbers, but the 10x champion’s strike rate from here is pretty good!@djokernole proves too strong for a gallant Taylor Fritz 7-6(3) 4-6 6-2 6-3@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/Abr5xArz0p
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2024
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