Djokovic holds off Fritz to reach Australian Open semifinals for 11th time

Novak Djokovic is back at the stage of the Australian Open where he's never been beaten.

The 10-time champion held off Taylor Fritz 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 3 ¾ hours on Tuesday to reach the Australian Open semifinals for the 11th time.

He's won all 10 semifinals he's contested at Melbourne Park, and all 10 finals.

In his record-extending 48th Grand Slam semifinal, he'll play No. 4-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 5 Andrey Rublev. They started their quarterfinal at 10:42 p.m.

Djokovic has spent more time on court so far through five rounds than ever at Melbourne Park — more than 15 hours — but thinks he's still building into it. He's on a 33-match winning streak at the Australian Open — a tournament record he shared with his childhood inspiration, Monica Seles — so he should know.

The first game took 16 minutes and the first set lasted 1 hour, 24 minutes. Fritz got the first break of serve, and Djokovic said he was on the back foot at times until the third set.

"Credit to him for playing really well. You could see that he had a clear game plan. He was really sharp," Djokovic said. "So it was definitely a struggle for me to play the first couple sets.

"In the third, things started to come together. I started to swing through the ball better. I started to feel better on the court. Serve, also. I wasn't serving well at all first two sets, and then third and fourth, great."

But Djokovic denied anymore twists by breaking back again for 5-3 and serving out.

Fritz said he played some of his best tennis to save all the break points but Djokovic kept lifting: "He's so fast. He doesn't really miss a lot of balls. It's also the lack of free points he gives you.

"There is a dropoff ... it was two sets, but, I mean, I've played four sets