Novak Djokovic has conquered an early fear to continue his offer for a record-similar eighth Wimbledon trophy.
Djokovic, the chase of a 25th large singles title, defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6/8), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals, where he will play the world number one Jannik Sinner.
Sinner picked up all the fears about his wounded elbow with a clinical defeat of powerful 10th seed Ben Shelton, who won 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4.
If he continues to Sunday’s final and come up triumphantly, Djokovic will be the same as Roger Federer’s record of eight men Wimbledon Singles titles.
“Wimbledon … is and will always be the most special tournament that we have in our sport, at least in my opinion, and I think that in the opinion of many players,” said Djokovic.
“It means the world for me that I am still able to play at the age of 38 to play in the last phases of Wimbledon.
“Another thing that makes me feel very young is competing with young people. Cobolli today … I enjoy sliding and running around the field with him and all the other guys.
“I’m going to have Sinner now, so I’m looking forward to it. It will be a great match.”
Cobolli, the 22nd seed, showed a huge mental force to restore a break after going down 3-5 in the first set.
He walked ahead in the tiebreak by leaving rip blasting winners of his orange Framed Racquet to pull loud cheers at Center Court.
But Djokovic stabbed to win the next three sets and reach a record-expanding 52nd large semi-final.
“I had a nasty slip. But that’s what happens when you play on grass,” said Djokovic.
“It came at an uncomfortable moment, but I managed to find a good serve and close it.”
The injury of the sinner is fading
Sinner, who wore a long white sleeve to protect his right arm, only lost two points in his opening of six service games.
But he couldn’t think the flowering delivery of Shelton before he turned seven consecutive points to storm through the first set of tiebreak.
Jannik Sinner did not let an elbow injury influence his performance against Ben Shelton. ((Getty Images: Visionhaus))
Shelton, who tried to reach his third major semi -final, continued to swing on fearless fashion, but could not land a significant blow to the sinner.
The American faltered on 4-5 in the second set when Sinner only converted his second breaking point opportunity of the match to fulfill a strangulation of the quarterfinals.
It was a repeat script in the third set. Sinner exerted pressure in the 10th match and Shelton was bursting, double errors before he based a forehand long after two hours and 19 minutes.
“If you are in a match with a lot of tension, you don’t try to think about it,” Sinner said about his injury.
The second semifinal will be disputed between reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz and Fifth Seed Taylor Fritz.
Reuters
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