Australian Open: Novak Djokovic remains unstoppable, he eliminated Taylor Fritz and is already in the semifinals

The Serbian Novak Djokovicworld number one and main favourite, he was not intimidated by the intense Melbourne heat and beat the American Taylor Fritz reach the semifinals for the eleventh time Australian Open.

It was a victory for Nole 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2 and 6-3in three hours and 44 minutes, to become the first semi-finalist of the 2024 Australian Open. A fact that excites the favourite: every time he reached the semi-finals in Australia he won the title.

“I hope to see you soon with the racket. I suffered a lot in the first two sets because of their level. It was very hot and with the sun outside, it was complicated,” the Serbian told local Nick Kyrgios, who was the interviewer in field after the conclusion of the incident.

The heat could not ally itself with a Fritz who was about to beat him in his temple, the Rod Laver Arena, in the 2021 edition. On that occasion the American drew two sets behind and the Serbian miraculously recovered from an injury that left him prevented him from moving. The public had to be evacuated because the covid quarantine came into force at midnight and the ending was the same as always at Melbourne Park: Djokovic’s victory.

Three years later, the only American representative in the draw had the opportunity to avenge that fateful night on a day at Melbourne Park that attracted more people than in previous days, after the maximum temperature had increased by eleven degrees, from 20 to 31, within a day.

Djokovic, who had played 15 consecutive night matches before the previous round clash against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino (20), He suffered physically from the intense heat of the first two setsof absolute equality, against a Fritz who is ten years younger than the first place in the world.

The main difference at the end of the clash between the two tennis players was the effectiveness of the serve, after Djokovic accumulated 82% of the points played with the first serve, in contrast to Fritz’s 66%. This led to the Serbian having 21 break points during the match, while Fritz only had six opportunities.

Another big difference was the variety of the Serbian’s tennis, which is based on serves and groundstrokes with different effects, heights and depths, while the San Diego player abused the same one-dimensional proposition: powerful flat serves and shots ferocious from the baseline. .

Fritz’s fast shots lost momentum when he returned from the bathroom, where he remained for nearly eight minutes, after the conclusion of the second set, after the intense sun had set behind the court and he gave oxygen to a Djokovic who recovered his energy.

The defending champion finished the match with 20 aces, 52 winners and 26 unforced errors.

Now his rival will make himself known after the conclusion of the clash between the Italians Jannik Sinner (3rd) with the Russian Andrei Rublev (5th), in the last scheduled round of the evening on the central court of the Rod Laver Arena.

“Sinner is playing the best tennis of his life. We’ve had very fair matches lately,” Nole added about who his next rival could be.

Djokovic will have the opportunity to extend his winning streak to 34, which began in the first round of the 2019 edition, against the American Mitchell Krueger, and became the longest during the last edition after overcoming former number one Andre Agassi, who he won 26 games. in a row.

With the passage to the semi-finals, the Belgrade native equaled the local Jack Crawford, in a ranking led by the Swiss Roger Federer with 15 appearances in the instance of the best four. Two days ago he had equaled the Swiss in the number of times he had managed to reach the Slam quarterfinals, with 58.