By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of yet more career milestones continued unabated as he reached a record 14th Wimbledon semi-final and a showdown with world number one Jannik Sinner on Wednesday.
The 38-year-old Serb recovered from a set down to beat Flavio Cobolli 6-7(6) 6-2 7-5 6-4 and is now only two victories away from an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.
Blocking his path next is a rather more formidable Italian in the form of Sinner who eased any worries about an elbow injury to beat American powerhouse Ben Shelton 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4.
In the women’s quarter-finals, Poland’s claycourt specialist Iga Swiatek broke new ground by reaching her first Wimbledon semi-final, beating Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5.
The eighth seed will face Switzerland’s unseeded Belinda Bencic who edged out Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 7-6(3) 7-6(2) to also reach her first semi-final at the grasscourt slam.
By reaching a record-extending 52nd Grand Slam semi, Djokovic also kept alive his hopes of equalling Roger Federer’s men’s record eight Wimbledon singles titles.
It remains a tall order even for a player widely regarded as the greatest of all time, especially with top seed Sinner and Spain’s holder Carlos Alcaraz, the two new powers in men’s tennis, most people’s bet to contest the final on July 13.
But no one should be writing off Djokovic who has won 44 of his last 46 matches at the All England Club and seems to know every single blade of grass on the historic Centre Court.
“It means the world to me that at 38 I am able to play in the final stages of Wimbledon,” Djokovic, who suffered a nasty slip on match point but appeared unscathed, said.
“Competing with youngsters makes me feel young, like Cobolli today. I enjoy running and sliding around the court. Speaking of the young guys, I will have Sinner in the next round so I look forward to that. That is going to be a great match-up.”
SINNER INJURY
Sinner may well have been back home in Italy had Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov not damaged his right pectoral muscle and retired with a two-set lead in the fourth round on Monday.
The three-times Grand Slam champion also sustained an elbow injury early on in that match and there was some doubt about his physical state ahead of his clash with 10th seed Shelton.
But he produced a clinical performance, reeling off seven successive points to win the first-set tiebreak and then pouncing in the 10th game of the next two sets to match his run to the semi-final two years ago when he lost to Djokovic.
Sinner, bidding to become the first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles title, wore a protective sleeve on his right arm but was rock solid against the big-serving Shelton.
“I had quite good feelings in the warm-up today,” Sinner, who dropped only six points on his first serve, said.
“I put into my mind that I’m going to play today. So the concerns were not that big if I would play or not.
“It was just a matter of what my percentage is. Today was very high, so I’m happy.”
Swiatek appears to have finally overcome her grass court demons and the four-times French Open champion could not hide her delight at reaching the semi-final at the sixth attempt.
“Honestly, it feels great. I have goosebumps after this win. I am super happy and super proud of myself and I will keep going. I worked really hard to progress here on this surface.”
Former Olympic champion Bencic became the first Swiss woman to reach the semis since Martina Hingis in 1998 after stunning 18-year-old seventh seed Andreeva on Centre Court.
“It’s crazy, it’s unbelievable. It’s a dream come true,” the 28-year-old mother said. “I’m just speechless.”
Bencic will face Swiatek on Thursday after top seed Aryna Sabalenka takes on 13th-seeded American Amanda Anisimova.
The first silverware of this year’s tournament will also be decided on Thursday when Dutchman Sem Verbeek and Czech Katerina Siniakova face Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani in the mixed doubles final on Centre Court.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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