Novak Djokovic has roared into the semi-finals of the US Open after a straight-sets demolition of American star Taylor Fritz.
The No. 2 seed had to overcome a brief moment where he lost the plot right when his 6-1 6-4 6-4 victory began to slip from his fingers late in the third set.
Djokovic’s dummy spit received a mixed response from the New York crowd that was cheering on the top-ranked American player — and was desperate for some more action after Coco Gauff had earlier trounced Jelena Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 in the opening match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
10.50am – Star fumes at umpire after thrashing
Romanian Sorana Cirstea wasn’t in a happy mood during her quarterfinal showdown against Karolina Muchova.
The 30th seed was swept aside on Arthur Ashe Stadium as Muchova claimed the opening set 6-0.
As the two players went to their chairs after the first set, Muchova left the court to go and change her clothes as Cirstea took issue with the chair umpire.
It was the break in play that seemingly saw Cirstea’s frustration boil over.
“I am the one waiting for her to serve,” Cirstea said.
“I don’t understand what you want from me. Come on.”
Jelena Dokic noted the umpire was appearing to tell Cirstea to be ready to start play when Muchova was ready to serve.
Dokic was baffled by Muchova’s decision to leave the court and halt the stunning momentum she had behind her.
“Usually you don’t do that after you’ve got the momentum… you’re 6-0 up,” she said on Nine’s coverage.
Cirstea took advantage of the break as she claimed an early break in the set to go up 2-0, but the 10th seeded Muchova bounced back as she went on to secure the 6-0, 6-3 victory.
The win now puts her into the semi-finals where she’ll take on American teen sensation Coco Gauff.
6.45am – ‘Furious’ Djokovic recovers from freak out to make semi-final
Novak Djokovic has become the oldest male semi-finalist at the US Open since 1991 after a straight-sets thrashing of Taylor Fritz on Wednesday morning.
Djokovic powered into a record 47th Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory that has seen him progress to the final four in New York for the 13th time.
Djokovic has now eclipsed Roger Federer’s record of 46 Grand Slam semi-final appearances.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however.
Djokovic was broken with the finish line in sight after Fritz tied the third set up at 4-4.
There was one crucial moment during Djokovic’s service game where a fan was heard yelling out in the middle of a rally. The fan appeared to be cheering as if Djokovic had already won the point.
When Fritz went on to win the rally, Djokovic turned in the fan’s direction and blew a gasket while screaming with his fingers pointing to his temples.
The Tennis Podcast wrote on Twitter Djokovic was “furious”.
Tennis journalist Jose Morgado wrote the crowd was “very agitated now” with sections cheering against the 23-time Grand Slam champ.
However, Djokovic showed his class by responding to the crowd with an instant break of serve — and then served out the match.
Djokovic was asked about the hostile crowd after the match and replied: “I actually thrive on that energy, use it as fuel.”
Djokovic continues his push for a record-extending men’s 24th Grand Slam title in the last four against another home player, either 10th seed Frances Tiafoe or the up-and-coming Ben Shelton.
6.30am — Star furious after ‘crazy’ stitch up
Jelena Ostapenko took aim at “crazy” US Open scheduling after being bundled out of the quarter-finals by American teenager Coco Gauff.
Less than 48 hours after sending world number one Iga Swiatek crashing out of the tournament, the Latvian 20th seed found herself heading for the exits after a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing.
But Ostapenko was unhappy at tournament scheduling that left her having to face a noon quarter-final in searing heat on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court so soon after her fourth round win.
“Today was not really good match from me,” Ostapenko said. “I think it’s really hard to recover from those night matches, because after beating world No. 1, I went to sleep at, like, 5:00 in the morning.
“You sleep for, I don’t know, maybe like seven, eight hours, but you completely don’t recover.
“Yesterday the whole day I felt very low energy. I thought today I was going to wake up and feel better. But honestly, I didn’t really feel much better. I think it’s a little bit crazy.
“If I play a match, a late-night session, then I suppose in one day I have to play at least at the same time or later on, because you don’t really have much time to recover.”
Ostapenko said tournament officials had led her to believe she would be given a later start on Wednesday following her win over Swiatek, which wrapped up just minutes before midnight on Monday.
“I was pretty sure I’m gonna play at night session, because that’s what they told me,” Ostapenko said.
“When I saw the schedule I was a little bit surprised, not in a really good way.” Meanwhile Ostapenko said while she hadn’t been bothered by the heat, the bright sunshine on the court had caused her problems.
“It was very hard to see the ball, because half of the court was in the shadow and half was in the sun,” she said. “I felt like I was reacting too late because of the shadow.”
Gauff, 19, will face either Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova or Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the last four on Thursday.
Gauff, beaten in the quarter-finals last year, is the first American teenager to reach the US Open semi-finals since 2001.
“It feels great, I’m so happy,” said Gauff.
“Last year I lost in the quarter-finals stage and wanted to do better this year. I have a long way to go but I’m happy and will be ready for the next one.”
— with AFP