Novak Djokovic remains on track for an 11th Australian Open title thanks to a hard-earned four-set victory over Taylor Fritz in Tuesday's quarter-final.
The world number one battled through unforgiving conditions to prevail 7-6[3] 4-6 6-2 6-3 in three hour and 45 minutes, maintaining his 100% winning streak over Fritz in the process.
Djokovic had come up trumps in each of his previous eight meetings with the 12th seed, including in the quarter-finals of the US Open last year, and he had reverted to his ruthless ways after being plagued by illness and injury at the start of the tournament.
However, the Serbian lacked a killer instinct in the early exchanges of the match, missing eight break points in the first set and also having to beat away two set points for Fritz before finding a second wind in the tie-breaker.
After losing serve in the first game of the second set, Djokovic squandered another seven openings on the Fritz serve as the American levelled the contest, but in the second game of the third set, the champion finally broke at the 16th time of asking.
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Fritz's powers soon began to wane, allowing Djokovic to break to love again while the American was serving to stay in the third set, although the 12th seed still had a bit of fight left in him and broke back for 4-3 in the fourth set after losing serve in the sixth game.
Djokovic quickly extinguished that flicker of hope, though, winning the next two games on the spin and taking his first match point to clinch his 33rd successive Australian Open victory, equalling Monica Seles for the most of all time.
Standing in Djokovic's way of an 11th appearance in the Melbourne final is familiar foe Jannik Sinner, who will compete in his first Australian Open semi-final thanks to a statement victory over Andrey Rublev.
The Italian fourth seed came up trumps 6-4 7-6[5] 6-3 against the Russian, who is still unable to shake the Grand Slam quarter-final curse and has now lost in all 10 of his last-eight ties at major tournaments.
Sinner took full advantage of Rublev's wastefulness, as the ATP Finals runner-up saved all eight break points he faced and restricted the Russian to just 34% of points behind his second serve.
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As well as Djokovic, corresponding women's champion Aryna Sabalenka also secured a safe passage into the semi-finals with a routine 6-2 6-3 win over former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova.
The world number two needed just 71 minutes to complete the job, taking six of the nine break points she fashioned on the Krejcikova serve and restricting the Czech to a paltry six winners.
Sabalenka now has two days to prepare for a mouthwatering rematch with Coco Gauff, whom she was beaten by in the final of the US Open, as the American emerged victorious from a three-set thriller with Marta Kostyuk.
In a back-and-forth contest lasting over three hours, Gauff powered her way to a 7-6[6] 6-7[3] 6-2 win over the unseeded Ukrainian, remarkably recovering from 5-1 down to win the first set and dominating Kostyuk in the third, where she won the opening five games.
The 19-year-old has now become the youngest American women in 33 years to reach the Australian Open singles semi-finals since a 19-year-old Mary Joe Fernandez also advanced to the final four in 1991.
Ben Knapton
