Djokovic Toughs Out Rublev, Sinner Rematch Ahead At Wimbledon; Alcaraz v Rune

After an easy quarterfinal win in Australia over the Andrey Rublev, the sitation was much different today for Novak Djokovic who still advanced over the Russian 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Rublev took the first over a flat Djokovic who had played yesterday. Djokovic then upped his game in the second and held off a late Rublev charge in the third including a marathon final set. Djokovic then got an early break and rode his serve to yet another win.

Djokovic reaches a Federer-tying 46th career Grandn Slam semifinal. Djokovic also makes his 12th Wimbledon semifinal and his streaks continue: 44 in a row on Centre Court, 33 straight wins on grass and 25 consecutive in Grand Slam play.

“At the end of the day, I don’t like to think too much time about statistics,” Djokovic said when told that he had just matched Roger Federer’s record of Grand Slam semifinals.

“The tournament is still active for me and I’m still in it. That’s all I’m thinking about right now, directing my attention to the next match. It’s only going to get tougher, I know that, but I liked the way I played today on the court.”

Djokovic now gets another match with Jannik Sinner. The Italian made the most of a great draw — didn’t face a single seed or anyone in the Top 70 — en route to his first career Grand Slam semifinal. Sinner eased past world No. 92 Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Sinner had lost all four previous Slam quarterfinals but got over the hump Tuesday going away from the Russian.

“It means a lot to me,” said Sinner. “We’ve put a lot of work in, many, many hours – also off court – a lot of sacrifices for this moment.

“I was a break up in the second and I get down, mentally, a little bit and this is a part we are working on a lot. Obviously, I’m very happy with how I reacted in the next couple of sets.”

Sinner will have a big step-up against Djokovic.

Tomorrow, Carlos Alcaraz will take on Holger Rune for a third time, first at a Grand Slam. The two 20-year-olds have split their meetings with Rune winning by retirement at the Paris Indoors last fall and Alcaraz taking it at the NextGen finals. So this will be their first real meeting.

On Court 1, Christopher Eubanks will try to continue his incredible run against Daniil Medvedev. Eubanks is making his Wimbledon debut while Medvedev is trying to prevent the Russians from going 0-3 in the quarters.

WEDNESDAY WIMBLEDON SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 1:30PM
Ons Jabeur (TUN) [6] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ) [3]
Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) [1] v Holger Rune (DEN) [6]

NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
Madison Keys (USA) [25] v Aryna Sabalenka [2]
Daniil Medvedev [3] v Christopher Eubanks (USA)