<p>Top seed <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/other-sports/article/fire-still-burns-23331109" target="_blank" rel="none noopener"><strong>Novak Djokovic</strong></a> battled into an 11th Australian Open semi-final and a record-extending 48th at Grand Slams on Tuesday, but a rampant Aryna Sabalenka had a much easier ride.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Serbian superstar came through a probing test on Rod Laver Arena against 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to keep his bid for an unprecedented 25th major crown on track.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img title="Aryna Sabalenka" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/jan/novak-twetny-four-b_e.jpg" alt="Aryna Sabalenka" width="1280" height="720" /><strong><em>Aryna Sabalenka</em></strong></p>
<h2>Sinner downs Rublev</h2>
<p>He will meet in-form Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner, who swept past Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3. Djokovic almost always gets the evening slot on centre court, but was bumped to the afternoon on a day on which temperatures soared to 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and the World No. 1 admitted it was tough going. &ldquo;Physically and emotionally very draining,&rdquo; he said after the three hour and 45 minute epic, adding that he &ldquo;suffered a lot&rdquo; in the first two sets.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/other-sports/article/gauff-gives-herself-c-rating-after-tough-win-23331470">Gauff gives herself &lsquo;C&rsquo; rating after tough win</a></strong></p>
<h2>&lsquo;He was serving well&rsquo;</h2>
<p>&ldquo;He was serving well, staying close to the line and kind of suffocating me from the back of the court. I think I upped my game probably midway through the third set all the way to the end,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>In contrast to Djokovic&rsquo;s long slog, fellow defending champion Sabalenka was off court in just 71 minutes, crushing ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 with minimum fuss. She will face fourth seed Coco Gauff next in a replay of last year&rsquo;s US Open final that the American teenager won in three sets.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I love it, I love it. After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge, and, I mean, that&rsquo;s a great match,&rdquo; Sabalenka said of her semi-final.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</em></span></p><p>
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World No. 1 says three hour, 45-minute quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz left him physically and emotionally exhausted; Sabalenka storms into semis

Djokovic drained out!

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Djokovic drained out!

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