Novak Djokovic has trailed for the first time at this year's Wimbledon, but responded in brutal fashion to beat Andrey Rublev 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
Inspired seventh seed Rublev snatched the opening set, but that was akin to poking a sleeping grizzly bear, as Djokovic exacted painful punishment to stay on track for a fifth straight title.
Rublev played some brilliant tennis that would have accounted for pretty much any other player in the world, but it was not enough to stop Djokovic, 36, reaching his 46th Grand Slam semi-final, equalling the record of eight-time champion Roger Federer.
The second seed will face Jannik Sinner in his 12th Wimbledon semi-final, after the Italian also beat a Russian opponent in Roman Safiullin earlier.
When Rublev broke serve in the eighth game, courtesy of a couple of beefy forehands, and held serve, thanks to a Djokovic error, to win the opening set, it seemed a first win in a Grand Slam quarter-final at the eighth attempt was possible - even against a man without a Centre Court loss for a decade.
Djokovic quickly reasserted his authority to race through a one-sided second set.
The Serbian was in control, as he broke serve early in the third set, but Rublev was not done and Djokovic was stretched to his elastic-limbed limits when serving at 5-4, fending off three breakpoints and needing five setpoints in a sensational game to move within a set of his 33rd successive Wimbledon win.
Briefly deflated, Rublev fell 3-1 behind in the fourth set and there was no coming back, as Djokovic wrapped up the win in his 400th Grand Slam match, a milestone reached only by Federer and Serena Williams.
Reuters
