{"id":51400,"date":"2024-01-23T12:15:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T12:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/djokovic-gauff-dig-deep-to-make-australian-open-semi-finals-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-23T12:15:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T12:15:11","slug":"djokovic-gauff-dig-deep-to-make-australian-open-semi-finals-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/djokovic-gauff-dig-deep-to-make-australian-open-semi-finals-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic, Gauff dig deep to make Australian Open semi-finals | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nMELBOURNE:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic battled past Taylor Fritz into an 11th Australian Open semi-final and a record-extending 48th at Grand Slams on Tuesday, with Coco Gauff also forced to dig deep in searing heat.<\/p>\n

The Serbian superstar came through a probing test on Rod Laver Arena against 12th seeded American 7-6 (7\/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to keep his bid for a 25th major crown on track.<\/p>\n

Djokovic almost always gets the evening slot on centre court, but was bumped to the afternoon on a day where temperatures soared to 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and the world number one admitted it was hard going.<\/p>\n

“Physically and emotionally very draining,” he said after the three hour and 45 minute slog, adding that he “suffered a lot” in the first two sets.<\/p>\n

“He was serving well, staying close to the line and kind of suffocating me from the back of the court,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think I upped my game probably midway through the third set all the way to the end.”<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old will face either Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner or Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev next, with the omens not good for either man.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has won all 10 previous semi-finals he has played at Melbourne Park, stretching back to his first title in 2008.<\/p>\n

Error-strewn US Open champion Gauff was also put through her paces before outlasting unseeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk after more than three scrappy hours 7-6 (8\/6), 6-7 (3\/7), 6-2.<\/p>\n

She will meet either power-packing defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or ninth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova for a place in the final.<\/p>\n

But her performance will not strike fear into whoever she plays next, with the 19-year-old struggling on serve and wasting countless opportunities.<\/p>\n

She admitted it was below-par, giving herself only a ‘C’ rating.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better,” she said.<\/p>\n

The low standard was not confined to Gauff, with the pair making a staggering 107 unforced errors between them — there were 16 service breaks.<\/p>\n

Kostyuk rued missing her chances, letting slip a 5-1 lead and squandering set points in the first set, but said she was proud of how she fought.<\/p>\n

“Very proud of myself. I won for myself today, and I think it’s the most important thing,” said the 21-year-old, who has been vocal at the tournament about keeping people’s focus on the conflict in her homeland.<\/p>\n

Gauff also faltered at crunch moments, broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set before keeping her cool as Kostyuk became more agitated in the deciding set.<\/p>\n

It extended her winning streak this year to 10 matches after she won at Auckland in the lead up, and her unbeaten run at Grand Slams to 12 after her title-winning exploits at Flushing Meadow.<\/p>\n

“Really proud of the fight I showed today,” said the American, who had never progressed beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park in four previous attempts.<\/p>\n

“I really fought and left it all on the court.”<\/p>\n

She will need to step up a level should she face Sabalenka, who has been ruthless so far in Melbourne, conceding just 11 games in her march towards another title.<\/p>\n

But the Belarusian world number two is expecting a thorough examination from Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, who is yet to go beyond the last eight at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

“Barbora, we played a lot of matches. She plays really well. I think she’s coming back after injuries, so also super-motivated. Always a tough battle,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic battled past Taylor Fritz into an 11th Australian Open semi-final and a record-extending 48th at Grand Slams on Tuesday, with Coco Gauff also forced to dig deep in searing heat. The Serbian superstar came through a probing test on Rod Laver Arena against 12th seeded American 7-6 (7\/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/djokk1706008569-0\/djokk1706008569-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t