{"id":726805,"date":"2026-01-28T17:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/726805\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:44:10","slug":"novak-djokovic-sets-up-australian-open-2026-semifinal-against-jannik-sinner-tennis-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/726805\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic sets up Australian Open 2026 semifinal against Jannik Sinner | Tennis News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Djokovic through despite losing two sets as Musetti retires injured before Sinner sinks Shelton in three sets.<\/p>\n

Published On 28 Jan 202628 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

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An \u201cextremely lucky\u201d Novak Djokovic has survived a huge scare, at two sets down, to reach the Australian Open semifinals after Lorenzo Musetti retired hurt, setting up a semfinal showdown against defending champion \u200cJannik Sinner, who thumped Ben Shelton in straight sets.<\/p>\n

The fifth-seeded Musetti was well on top and leading 6-4, 6-3, 1-3 on Wednesday, when he withdrew after treatment on his upper right leg, with his movement badly impeded.<\/p>\n

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It was a huge stroke of luck for the error-riddled 10-time Melbourne winner Djokovic, who will now play Sinner for a place in the final as he keeps alive his bid for a 25th Grand Slam crown.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has been trying to move past Margaret Court and clinch the landmark since his last one at the US Open in 2023.<\/p>\n

It has proved increasingly difficult with the emergence of Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really sorry for him, he was the far better player, I was on my way home tonight,\u201d said Djokovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has happened to me a few times. He was in full control.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo unfortunate, I don\u2019t know what else to say. He should have been the winner today, no doubt. I am extremely lucky to get through this one today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NovakMusetti, right, walks off the court with Djokovic after he abruptly retired with a leg injury while leading the 24-time grand slam winner 6-4, 6-3, 1-3 on Wednesday [Izhar Khan\/AFP]Smooth Sinner sails through<\/p>\n

In the second quarterfinal of the day, Sinner scorched American eighth seed Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4 to book a blockbuster \u200dshowdown with 10-time winner Djokovic.<\/p>\n

The second seed, who is firmly on course for his third title at Melbourne Park in as many years, tightened his vice-like grip on the rivalry with Shelton by sealing his ninth straight win, all of which have been without conceding a set.<\/p>\n

Despite a comfortable win \u2060to reach his ninth Grand Slam semifinal and sixth in a row, Sinner faced moments where he was tested by \u200bShelton\u2019s thunderous serves, including one that nearly crashed into his body, leaving him little time to \u200dreact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very tough to play against Ben; he\u2019s got a huge serve and he\u2019s improving year after year,\u201d said Sinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the off-season, you never know how certain players are going to play against you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not always, the power that matters. The serves I can handle \u200dare a little \u2060bit closer to my body. It\u2019s slightly easier, but it\u2019s a completely different serve, he\u2019s a lefty, we don\u2019t have many lefties in our game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of the toughest challenges to return his serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Italy'sSinner celebrates after winning against Shelton [William West\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Djokovic through despite losing two sets as Musetti retires injured before Sinner sinks Shelton in three sets. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[11410,186,12,93,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-726805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115973971834961355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}