WIMBLEDON, England — Novak Djokovic tied Roger Federer’s record of 46 men’s Grand Slam semifinals by getting to that round at Wimbledon with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Andrey Rublev on Tuesday.
More importantly, Djokovic moved closer to a fifth consecutive championship at the All England Club and eighth overall – which would pull him even with Federer on both counts.
Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, is also pursuing a 24th career major trophy. He already set the men’s mark in that category by collecting No. 23 at the French Open last month, pulling ahead of Rafael Nadal. Federer is next on the list with 20.
The only real blip for Djokovic at Centre Court on Tuesday came when the No. 7-seeded Rublev broke him with a forehand winner to lead 5-4 in the first set, then served it out.
From there, Djokovic saved all seven break points he faced and pulled away, dropping Rublev to 0-8 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Next up for Djokovic is a matchup against No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner, who made it to the semifinals at a major tournament for the first time by beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 earlier Tuesday.
Djokovic has won both previous head-to-head meetings against Sinner, a 21-year-old from Italy.