For Novak Djokovic, another day, another landmark.
With a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Taylor Fritz of the US, Djokovic moved into the 47th grand slam semi-final of his career at the US Open, eclipsing a record he previously shared with Roger Federer.
Should the 36-year-old defeat Ben Shelton of the US, a player at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of age and experience, another historic milestone will hove into view: the chance to win a 24th grand slam title and equal Margaret Court’s all-time record.
Shelton, a 20-year-old Atlantan ranked 47 in the world and playing his first full season on the ATP Tour, defeated Frances Tiafoe, the 10th seed, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2.
It has been a remarkable debut campaign for Shelton, who only used his passport for the first time at the turn of the year, but made his first trip abroad a memorable one by reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals. Shelton has now won 50% of his grand slam outings, an outstanding statistic for such a young player, even if the sample size is limited to 20 matches. Naturally, though, that achievement pales into insignificance in comparison with Djokovic, who has won an extraordinary 88.21% of his 407 outings at the majors.
“Obviously, it’s a huge opportunity every single time I step out on the court at this age, at this stage of my life,” said Djokovic. “I don’t know how many more opportunities I’ll get, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.”
Djokovic’s enjoyment inevitably came at the expense of his opponent’s misery. Fritz’s progress to the last eight could hardly have been more emphatic – four straight-set wins, 49 out of 50 service games won – but it quickly became clear that an afternoon of intense heat and humidity would follow a wearyingly familiar pattern for the Californian. Fritz was broken in each of his first two service games and, while the rallies were competitive, the score-line quickly became lopsided.
Struggling with his serve and his consistency, Fritz made 51 unforced errors, over-pressing from the baseline as he sought in vain to avert an eighth successive defeat to Djokovic. By the end, the Serb’s chief source of consternation was an overexcited fan who distracted him as he was broken while leading 4-3 in the third set. No lasting damage was done, however, Fritz immediately relinquishing another break with a flurry of errors before Djokovic closed out the win in two hours and 35 minutes.
“Obviously, Novak being Novak, he’ll make me feel like I’m serving worse than I am,” said Fritz. “But in other matches I wouldn’t get as punished for missing so many first serves, I can maybe get away with it. With him, I have to serve better than 50%, and I have to hit my spots better. That’s just how it is.”
Shelton, whose 149mph serves and huge forehands have been the toast of the town these past 10 days, would do well to take heed. The charismatic southpaw had service problems of his own in the third-set tiebreak against Tiafoe, double-faulting twice in a row to gift Tiafoe the initiative. Shelton’s response to the danger, as the man he has likened to a brother held a set point at 7-6, was straight out of the Djokovic playbook. The youngster ripped a blazing forehand return winner, just as the Serb famously did twice to save match points against Roger Federer in US Open semi-finals, and never looked back.
“It’s one of my biggest weapons, my serve,” said Shelton. “So to lose two points the way I did was unfortunate and frustrated me. Down set point, I needed to let a little bit of that frustration out and kind of just let it go. I had been all set so uptight about things.
“There was just so much stress. I kind of needed a release and it ended up working out for me.”
Djokovic, who said beforehand he was looking forward to watching the all-American showdown, will no doubt have been suitably impressed. He is alive to the danger that lies ahead on Friday.
“Ben Shelton has been serving some bombs this tournament,” said the Serb. “When his serve is on, he’s a very difficult player to play against, especially because he’s a lefty as well.”
With more history beckoning, you sense he will be ready.