Novak Djokovic of Serbia gestures to the crown during a 2025 Australian Open quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Tuesday in Melbourne. Photo by Marcin Cholewinski/EPA-EFE
Jan. 21 (UPI) — Novak Djokovic dropped his first set, battled through an undisclosed injury and rallied to win the next three, beating rival Carlos Alcaraz in the 2025 Australian Open quarterfinals.
The 3-hour, 37-minute match started Tuesday, but ended Wednesday in Melbourne. With the victory, Djokovic became the first men’s player in the Open Era — since 1968) –to reach at least 50 Grand Slam singles semifinals.
“I just wish this match was the finals, honestly,” Djokovic said of the 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory at Rod Laver Arena.
The Serbian totaled 27 unforced errors and converted 6 of 13 break point opportunities, compared to 40 unforced errors and a 4 of 11 conversion rate from his Spaniard foe.
Alcaraz totaled 50 winners and 10 aces, compared to 31 and five for Djokovic in the first Australian Open meeting between the tennis greats.
“It was one of the most epic matches I’ve played on any court,” Djokovic said. “Thank you all for staying at 1 a.m. to watch us and support the players.”
Alcaraz broke Djokovic’s serve twice in the first set. Djokovic, ranked No. 7, went on to break his third-ranked counterpart in the second game of the second set to take a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz won the next three games, including through a break point, to tie the set at 3-3.
Djokovic answered by holding on his next two serves and breaking Alcaraz in the final game of the set to tie the match. He then broke Alcaraz three more times, including on his first serve of the fourth set.
“I felt like I was controlling the match, but I let him get into the match again,” said Alcaraz, who won a 33-shot rally to save a break point in the fourth set.
“That was the biggest mistake I made today. In the second set, I had to play a little better to push him more to the limit. … And I didn’t do it. After that, he started to play better.”
Djokovic said he injured his left leg and took medication to address the issue, but did not elaborate on the injury because he didn’t want to give any advantage to his next opponent, No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany.
Zverev beat No. 11 Tommy Paul of the United States in another quarterfinal Tuesday in Melbourne. Djokovic has an 8-4 record in his career meetings with the German.
He is now 5-3 against Alcaraz, but is 2-2 in Grand Slam meetings with the Spaniard.
No. 20 Ben Shelton of the United States will face No. 55 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy in the third men’s quarterfinal Wednesday at Melbourne Park.
The other quarterfinal will feature No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy and No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia. The winners from those quarterfinals will meet in the other men’s semifinal for a chance to face Djokovic or Zverev in the men’s finale.
With another title, Djokovic can pass Margaret Court for the most Grand Slam singles crowns (25) in tennis history.
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