Novak Djokovic through to his eighth Australian Open semi-final where he will face old foe Roger Federer. The Serbian has never lost a semi-final in Melbourne before
Tuesday 28 January 2020 13:09, UK
Defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic set up a 50th career meeting with Roger Federer after reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Djokovic brushed aside the threat of the huge-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic as he breezed to a 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-1) victory despite an issue with his contact lenses late in the third set.
Raonic had already knocked out reigning ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and former world No 3 Marin Cilic to make the last four, but Djokovic proved to be the immovable object.
He said: "I want to apologise to Milos because it's not something that you see often that a player goes out not at a changeover. It was not intentional or tactical, it was just something I had to do. Those few games I couldn't see much and I had to change my lenses."
Djokovic was more than happy with his performance, though, saying: "It felt great on the court, I thought I was very focused. The first couple of sets went exactly as I wanted them to go. It was a great performance."
Djokovic warmed up for his quarter-final clash wearing a top which had the letters 'KB' and numbers '8' and '24' above a red heart, in tribute to NBA star Kobe Bryant who died on Sunday.
When they started play, he looked immaculate on serve, winning his first 14 points of the first set, before Raonic made some inroads by earning a break-point chance.
The Serb saved that before turning the screw at the business end of the set to take advantage of his fourth set point opportunity following an almighty tussle after 54 minutes. It was the first time in the tournament the former Wimbledon finalist had been broken.
Djokovic took a stranglehold on the match by upping the tempo and breaking for a 3-1 lead in the second set. The world No 2 was in total control with his all-court coverage overwhelming the Canadian, who had already saved 10 out of 11 break points offered up to his opponent.
That break of serve was enough to hand the 16-time Grand Slam champion the advantage of a two-set lead on Rod Laver Arena.
The 32-year-old, who had dropped just one set during his first-round clash against Jan-Lennard Struff en route to the last four, was serving immaculately thanks in part to the tutelage of former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, who is now in Djokovic's corner.
At 4-4 in the third set Djokovic took a medical timeout after an issue with his contact lenses. He had no problem seeing the ball when he returned as he blazed his way through the subsequent tie-breaker to march on in two hours and 50 minutes.
Djokovic has now played 10, won all 10 meetings against Raonic, who played only 14 tournaments in 2019, as he dealt with multiple injuries, including back and glute ailments. They have played 26 sets in total, with Raonic winning just two of them.
Djokovic will now prepare for his match against Federer in which he leads the head-to-head meeting 26-23, including four out of the last five. This will be their first clash at Melbourne Park since the 2016 semi-finals, which the Serb won in four sets. Between them they have claimed 13 out of the last 16 Australian Open titles, stretching back to 2004.
Looking ahead to his clash with Federer, Djokovic said: "Obviously tremendous respect for Roger. He's been one of the all-time greats and definitely one of my two biggest rivals. The match-ups against Roger and Rafa have made me the player I am today.
"I hope to get to at least one match point. It was quite amazing what he has done on the court today. It's not the first time, that's why he is who he is. Let the better player win."
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