Djokovic overcomes Fritz challenge to enter Australian Open semis
Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff were both made to toil for semi-final places on a blazing Tuesday at the Australian Open as the tournament was heading for another potentially late evening after the day session spilled over.
Two epic battles in the afternoon meant defending women's champion Aryna Sabalenka did not walk onto Rod Laver Arena until well after 9 p.m. but the Belarusian made short work of Barbora Krejcikova to ease some of the pressure on the schedule.
With fourth seed Jannik Sinner and fifth seed Andrey Rublev following them onto the main showcourt later in the evening, however, fans were gearing up for another long night.
Holder Djokovic was expected to breeze past Taylor Fritz having come into the contest with an 8-0 win-loss record over the 12th seed but he endured a stern test that lasted nearly four hours to prevail 76(3) 4-6 6-2 6-3.
"This match was not an enjoyable match for me at all," Djokovic told reporters.
"Of course, I'm proud to overcome the kind of challenge and obstacles and I'm pleased to win but it wasn't enjoyable at all. It was really ... a lot of suffering in every aspect.
"You have days like that where you just have to accept it, face the circumstances and try to make the most out of it."
Gauff was happy to win "ugly" as she quelled the challenge of Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 7-6(6) 6-7(3) 6-2 in a little over three hours and the U.S. Open champion will need to raise her level if she hopes to win a second Grand Slam title.
"Yeah, it was a fight," said Gauff, who had to battle back from 5-1 down in the opening set. "I think today was definitely a 'C' game, so didn't play my best tennis but really proud that I was able to get through today's match.”