LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon semifinals for a men’s-record 14th time as he pursues his unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title, quickly recovering from an awkward fall in the last game to beat Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday and set up a showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
Not everything went smoothly for the 38-year-old Djokovic, who served for the opening set at 5-3 but got broken at love. He later was a point from owning that set before first-time major quarterfinalist Cobolli, a 23-year-old Italian seeded 22nd, came through. And on his second match point, his right foot slid out from under him and he did the splits as he went down to the grass and landed on his stomach.
Two points later, though, the victory was complete.
Earlier, Djokovic did stretches and breathing exercises at changeovers. He whacked his shoe with his racket after one miss in the fourth set. He seemed bothered at times by the bright sun above Centre Court.
He also showed off all of his considerable skills, whether accumulating 13 aces and holding in 19 of his 21 service games, using a drop-shot-lob-drop-shot combination to take one point or limiting his unforced errors to 22 — half as many as Cobolli, who had his right thigh massaged by a trainer between some games.
As Djokovic tries to equal Roger Federer’s men’s mark of eight Wimbledon trophies, now comes a tough task against Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has won their four most recent meetings, including in the semifinals at the French Open last month. Then again, Djokovic is 2-0 against Sinner at the All England Club, beating him there in the 2023 semifinals and 2022 quarterfinals.
On Wednesday against 10th-seeded Ben Shelton, Sinner sure didn’t play like someone dealing with an injured right elbow, using terrific serving and his usual booming forehand for a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Sinner wore a white sleeve on his right arm with strips of tape visible underneath — one above the elbow, one below it — two days after he was hurt when he slipped and fell in the opening game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov.
Sinner, the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at Roland-Garros last month, had an MRI exam on Tuesday and initially canceled a practice session that day but did hit some balls in a 20-minute session at an indoor court later.
“When you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it,” said Sinner, who reached his fourth consecutive major semifinal, including titles at the U.S. Open last September and the Australian Open in January. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to today.”
Against Shelton at No. 1 Court, Sinner came out as though not a thing were wrong, grabbing 27 of his 29 service points in the first set while accumulating a total of 15 winners to just one unforced error.
Still, Shelton stayed right with him until 2-all in the tiebreaker. That’s when Sinner surged in front, helped by a double-fault and four consecutive forehand errors by Shelton.
At the outset of the second set, Shelton finally made some headway in a return game, getting a pair of break points at 15-40.
On one, Sinner produced a forehand winner. On the other, he pounded a 132 mph serve — his fastest of the match — and rushed forward, getting to deuce when Shelton’s backhand pass attempt found the net. That was followed by a 118 mph ace and a 125 mph service winner.
Those were Shelton’s only break chances.
Later in that set came a brief moment where Sinner did appear to have an issue with his arm after trying to return a 141 mph serve from Shelton, a 22-year-old American who was trying to reach his third Slam semifinal. Sinner shook his right wrist and then held that elbow with his left hand. But that was about it.
At 2-all in third set, Shelton’s father, former tour pro Bryan — who is also his coach — leaned forward in his seat and told Ben: “Just takes one little dip from him. Be ready for the opportunity to take it. Come on! Keep staying there! Let’s go!”
There never was a dip from Sinner. He finished with nearly twice as many winners as unforced errors, 33 to 17, and took 50 of his 56 first-serve points.
Sinner won 55 baseline points, Shelton 24. Of the points that lasted five strokes or more, Sinner claimed 44, Shelton just 18.
“There is no better stage to play tennis,” he said, “and I think I showed this today.”
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