Australian Open: Novak Djokovic Edged Out Alex Zverev To Reach Ninth Semi-final

Getting to lift the Australian Open title back-to-back to such that Novak Djokovic would not take for granted neither would he let his racket disappoint him en route to the finale. During his quarter-final match against Alexander Zverev, he lost his emotion in the third set over trailing the German while in a rally for the set. 

Djokovic dropped the first set and rallied to take the second but Zverev took an early 3-1 lead in the third leading to frustration that amounted to him smashing his racket on the hard-court. Eventually, he regained control of the match to emerged as the winner in four sets 6-7(6) 6-2 6-4 7-6(8). 

Zverev was denied 12 break advantages by the Serb who entered into his ninth AO semi-finals and claimed his sixth win against the German in eight head-to-head series. 

"[There were] a lot of nerves out there, a lot of pressure," said Djokovic who admitted he was emotional drained during the match. "It was a great battle. Congratulations to Sascha for a great tournament and a great battle today."

At this point, the top-seeded is a match away from defending the title that will equal the record set by Rafael Nadal for the second all-time biggest Grand Slam (18) after Roger Federer. Djokovic will play Asian Karatsev - the debutant who defeated Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.