Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic was forced to work hard for his latest win at Wimbledon. Photo: Chryslene Caillaud / Pznews / PHOTOSPORT
Novak Djokovic has continued his bid for a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon trophy and standalone 25th Grand Slam title when he beat Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli to reach the semi-finals.
Djokovic was given an early scare but triumphed 6-7(6) 6-2 7-5 6-4 on Wednesday (UK time) to reach the semi-finals.
The 38-year-old's fightback helped him reach a record 14th singles semi-final at the All England Club, where he will face top seed Jannik Sinner, with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or Taylor Fritz awaiting in the final.
World number one Sinner shrugged off any doubts about his fitness to reach the last four for the second time with a clinical defeat of American tenth seed Ben Shelton 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4.
In the women's draw Polish eighth seed Iga Swiatek walloped Russian 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
After years of nightmare outings on tennis' fastest surface, Swiatek appears to have finally conquered her grasscourt demons as she said the "ball has been really listening" to her at Wimbledon this year.
Swiatek will face 35th-ranked Swiss Belinda Bencic in the last four after she beat Russian seventh seed Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3) 7-6 (2).
The other women's semi-final is between top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova.
-RNZ/Reuters
