Novak Djokovic nets 700th hard-court win, now 9-0 vs. Fritz after Aussie Open quarterfinal victory

The remarkable milestones just keep on coming for Novak Djokovic.

With his 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz in Tuesday’s Australian Open quarterfinals, Djokovic became just the second man after Roger Federer to post 700 hard-court wins in the Open Era.

The 36-year-old improved to 9-0 against Fritz, having also beaten the No. 1-ranked American in the final eight of last year’s US Open. Afterwards, the 36-year-old was interviewed on court by Nick Kyrgios, who was in the bunker commentating the match.

“It felt like playing you man, with your serve,” Djokovic joked to the Australian. “Taylor has got one of the best serves in the world. I saw him playing Tsitsipas a few days ago and he was serving extremely well. I knew the kind of a threat he poses when he serves on such a high quality.”

The world No. 1 found himself in a one-set all position as a result of missing his first 15 break point opportunities in an early evening contest that brought balmy conditions. On his end of the court, Fritz needed to blast 21 winners against nine unforced errors to win the second set. Sustaining that level and keeping his service games from pressure points ultimately proved near impossible for Fritz, who was bidding to reach his first major semifinal.

"I definitely could have played the games and served better to not put myself in that position," Fritz said in his post-match press conference. "But how I was playing from the ground, after you take out return, take out serve, how I was playing from the back of the court, I'm super happy with."

In his first return game of set three, Djokovic finally broke through. Expanding the court by moving the No. 12 seed back and forth to each order, the 24-time Grand Slam champion finished an 16-shot rally with a forehand crosscourt winner. More of his visionary shot-making was on full display at the end of the set. Showing off his touch earlier in the game, Djokovic then angled a short backhand crosscourt return to open up the line for a set-ending backhand winner.

Cheers of “Nole! Nole!” emerged as the players sat for their set break. While Djokovic missed two more break points early in the fourth set, there was soon reason to keep the chants coming. The two competitors traded three consecutive breaks from 3-2, but with the top seed coming out on the winning end of that swing, he closed with eight of the final nine points to advance in three hours and 45 minutes.

“I think I upped my game midway through the third set all the way until the end. I served extremely well,” said Djokovic. “I think I had even more aces than he did, which is a surprise stat. That helped obviously a lot for this kind of matchup.”

Djokovic awaits the winner of Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev, who are due to play the second night match on Rod Laver Arena. The Belgrade native is 20-0 once reaching the semifinal stage at Melbourne Park and has won his past 33 Australian Open encounters, matching Monica Seles for the longest singles streak at the tournament.