While Djokovic was playing in his 39th Grand Slam semi-final, Karatsev had never even played in one of tennis' four major tournaments before this fortnight. Nobody has mastered the Australian Open men's singles like Djokovic, who says the event 'feels like home' after dominating the tournament since winning his maiden title in 2008.ĭjokovic has lost only three matches at Melbourne Park over the past decade and losing to Karatsev would have been a seismic shock ranked among the sport's great upsets.

He played a great tournament,' said Djokovic Tense Djokovic digs deep to see off Karatsev Huge congratulations on reaching the semi-finals on his debut. I'm thrilled.' 'We need to give Karatsev a hand. 'It was my best match so far and came at the right time. It felt great, I could swing through the ball and no pain,' he said. 'This is the best I have felt in the entire tournament. Tsitsipas fights back to stun Nadal in five-set thrillerĭjokovic has struggled with an abdominal injury during the tournament but showed no signs of the problem against Karatsev.'If I say farewell I wouldn't tell anyone' - Williams leaves news conference in tears.Osaka beats Williams & meets Brady in women's final.Neither player has won a major title yet and will face an opponent in Djokovic who is bidding for an 18th Grand Slam to close the gap on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Russian fourth seed Medvedev meets Greek fifth seed Tsitsipas in the other semi-final on Friday, with both men trying to reach their first Australian Open final. The 33-year-old Serb won the final four games to finally shrug off Karatsev.ĭjokovic, who is going for a record-extending ninth men's title in Melbourne, will face Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final.

Djokovic flashscore