Novak Djokovic produced one more scarcely-believable comeback to stun Carlos Alcaraz in a thriller and attain the Australian Open semi-finals.
The 37-year-old Serb defied damage, age and rating to win 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 towards his 21-year-old opponent in Melbourne.
Djokovic, going for a record-extending eleventh males’s singles title, limped round Rod Laver Area on the finish of the primary set after struggling what gave the impression to be a groin downside.
However, after going off courtroom for remedy, he recovered impressively to proceed his bid for a twenty fifth Grand Slam triumph – which might be an all-time document.
Djokovic performed aggressively till the ache wore off, permitting him to maneuver extra freely and take management of the match.
Spanish third seed Alcaraz turned more and more animated as he struggled to determine find out how to flip an engrossing contest again in his favour.
When seventh seed Djokovic sealed victory – at 00:57 native time after a battle lasting three hours and 38 minutes – he roared in direction of coach Andy Murray.
Djokovic and Alcaraz shared a heat embrace on the web after a highly-anticipated match which lived as much as the expectation.
The defeat ends Alcaraz’s hopes – for now, not less than – of changing into the youngest man to finish the profession Grand Slam.
As a substitute it’s Djokovic who advances to the semi-finals, the place he’ll face German second seed Alexander Zverev on Friday.