Wimbledon: Musetti sets up Djokovic semifinal clash as Rybakina cruises
Novak Djokovic progressed to a record-equalling 13th Wimbledon semifinal without hitting a ball on Wednesday after Alex de Minaur pulled out injured as former women’s champion Elena Rybakina eased through.
Australian ninth seed De Minaur, 25, announced shortly after midday at the All England Club that he was “devastated to pull out due to a hip injury”.
It means Djokovic has now equalled Roger Federer’s men’s record of 13 semifinal appearances at Wimbledon as he closes on the Swiss great’s mark of eight singles titles.
The 37-year-old Serbian is also through to a record-extending 49th men’s Grand Slam semifinal where he will face Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
Djokovic will play 25th seed Musetti for a place in Sunday’s showpiece match after the Italian beat US 13th seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
The world number two — who had knee surgery last month — does not have a title to his name this year and is still seeking a first victory against a fellow top-10 player.
But a historic 25th Grand Slam triumph is coming into sharp focus for Djokovic, who demolished Holger Rune in straight sets in the fourth round.
The Serb has a 5-1 winning record over 22-year-old Musetti, including a come-from-behind five-set victory at the French Open last month.
In early action on Wednesday, 2022 champion Rybakina barely broke sweat in swatting aside last year’s semifinalist Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes.
She will face Barbora Krejcikova for a place in Saturday’s final after the Czech 31st seed came out on top against Jelena Ostapenko in a battle of former French Open champions.
Russian-born Rybakina, now 19-2 in main-draw matches at Wimbledon, broke the Ukrainian 21st seed four times in the match on Centre Court.
The fourth seed was broken in the first game in front of the watching Queen Camilla but hit back straight away and barely put a foot wrong after that.
The 25-year-old, who crunched 28 winners to Svitolina’s eight, said she had “amazing memories” from 2022 but does not like the favourite tag.
Krejcikova took the first set against Latvian 13th seed Ostapenko with a single break on Court No. 1.
Ostapenko, the 2018 Wimbledon semifinalist, finally broke through in the fourth game of the second set for a 3-1 lead and backed it up with a hold.
But she went dramatically off the boil as Krejcikova reeled off the next four games for a 5-4 lead.
Ostapenko clung on to break the Czech in the 10th game but 2021 French Open champion Krejcikova played the more composed tie-break to seal the victory.
Victory for the 28-year-old comes after a miserable run in 2024, with her season marred by injury and illness.
Her run to the Birmingham quarterfinal last month allowed her to celebrate match wins for the first time since Abu Dhabi in February.
