{"id":23005,"date":"2026-01-28T08:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/djokovic-through-to-australian-open-semi-finals-after-musetti-injury\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:33:53","slug":"djokovic-through-to-australian-open-semi-finals-after-musetti-injury","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/djokovic-through-to-australian-open-semi-finals-after-musetti-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic through to Australian Open semi-finals after Musetti injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Novak Djokovic&#8217;s quest for a record Grand Slam title continued in dramatic circumstances after fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti quit their Australian Open quarter final match with an injury after taking a two-set lead at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Musetti&#8217;s retirement when leading 6-4 6-3 1-3 meant Djokovic pulled off a great escape at his most successful hunting ground, with the 10 times champion&#8217;s bid for a standalone 25th major to break the tie with Margaret Court still alive.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what to say, except that I feel really sorry for him and he was a far better player,&#8221; Djokovic said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I was on my way home tonight. These things happen in sport and it&#8217;s happened to me a few times, but being in quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, two sets to love up and being in full control, I mean it&#8217;s so unfortunate.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I wish him a speedy recovery and he should have been the winner today, there&#8217;s no doubt.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The 38-year-old Serb returned to action after an extended break following fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik&#8217;s walkover on Sunday, and his freshness showed during a sharp start where he brought plenty of variety and grabbed an early break.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Meanwhile Djokovic soldiered on following treatment for a foot blister and went 2-1 up with a break in the third, when it was Musetti&#8217;s turn to call the trainer to the court for what appeared like a right thigh issue.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Musetti looked to manage the problem and play on but he was far from 100% and threw in the towel a game later to gasps from the Rod Laver Arena crowd, handing Djokovic his 103rd match win at the tournament to eclipse Roger Federer&#8217;s mark.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Djokovic faces the winner of the quarter-final between defending champion Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to double my prayers tonight, for sure, and show gratitude to God for giving me this opportunity,&#8221; Djokovic said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13224,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-23005","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"Novak Djokovic's quest for a record Grand Slam title continued","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26113,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23005\/revisions\/26113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}