Australian Open: Djokovic through to 11th semi-final, beats Fritz

Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed, beat American Taylor Fritz, the No 12 seed, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to move into the last four of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday night.

Djokovic, ranked No 1, will play the winner of the match between Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 4 seed, and Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, next.

The first two sets proved a test, though, with Fritz saving all 15 of the break points he faced – but the 16th was decisive, giving Djokovic an early lead in the third set.

The 36-year-old Serb won against Croat qualifier Dino Prizmic (6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4), Australian Alexei Popyrin (6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3), Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 30 seed (6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (2)) and Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 20 seed (6-0, 6-0, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds, Fritz, ranked No 12, won against Argentinian Facundo Diaz Acosta (4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4), French lucky loser Hugo Gaston (6-0, 6-3, 6-1), Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2) and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 7 seed (7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3).

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Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last eight results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Jannik Sinner vs. Andrey Rublev