Novak Djokovic completes hard-fought comeback to beat Russian Andrey Rublev in four sets and set up semi-final against Jannik Sinner as he closes in on a 24th Grand Slam title
- Novak Djokovic completed a thrilling come back to defeat Andrey Rublev
- Rublev shocked Djokovic winning the first set, but was beaten 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
Novak Djokovic equalled Roger Federer’s record for the most men’s grand slam singles semi-final appearances in history by coming from a set down to defeat Andrey Rublev.
The Serbian’s 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-3 victory on Centre Court sent him through to the last four at a major for the 46th time and extended his winning run at Wimbledon to 33 matches.
Throughout his glittering tennis career, Djokovic has dazzled fans with some quite outstanding comebacks.
Some of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time are able to conjour up wins in some of the toughest of circumstances.
Djokovic is one of those players, and his resilience at times can be super human to watch.
Today’s triumph against Rublev may not go down as his greatest ever comeback win, with his epic match against Roger Federer at the 2010 US Open being up there as one of his best, while his 2020 resurgence against Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open is perhaps one of his most recent revivals.
But Rublev, 25, was a formidable opponent for the 23-time Grand Slam champion, taking the first set off the Serbian to receive a huge roar from the Wimbledon crowd. He battled hard throughout the match and continued to fight against Djokovic even after going 2-1 down.
The Russian, who has beaten the seven-time Wimbledon champion just once in their last four meetings, got off to a fast start in the quarter-final, breaking his opponent late on in the first set to put the Serbian on the back foot.
It was a powerful display of tennis, with Rublev’s return game against Djokovic’s crashing serve a joy to watch.
Rublev was impressive at the start, saving three break points, to fend off the advances of the World No 2.
But it wasn’t long before Djokovic found his gear, hammering his way through the second set, breaking Rublev twice in quick succession to go five-love in games.
With the Serbian on the offence to take his third break, Rublev held, brining the set to 5-1 in the second set, but just couldn’t hold off the ferocious advances of his opponent, who wrapped up the set with a thunderous serve that pinged off the World No 7’s racket and over the baseline.
It was a serious statement from Djokovic, hitting back to power past his opponent in a set that took just 28 minutes to complete. The former World No 1 also made just two unforced errors to Rublev’s six in that exchange.
With Djokovic on the attack, Rublev would serve out the opening game of the third set to put the 23-time Grand Slam winner back under pressure.
But every time he seemed to advance, hammering the ball back off the Serbian’s thunderous serve, Djokovic would claw his way back into the point, rallying to defend his service in the second set.
Rublev, who despite having 13 ATP Tour wins to his name has not won a Grand Slam yet, battled on. But on his own serve, the 25-year-old just couldn’t quite hold off the advances of his opponent, who broke Rublev in the fifth game of the third set to put himself in on the front foot.
Djokovic would hold out to go 2-1 up and would come back again to break his opponent twice in the final set to book his place in the semi-finals against Jannik Sinner.
More to follow…
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