Novak Djokovic reaches Australian Open semi-finals after Lorenzo Musetti retires

Novak Djokovic was given an Australian Open reprieve when quarter-final opponent Lorenzo Musetti retired injured leading by two sets to love.

An out-of-sorts Djokovic looked to be heading for the exit door, but Musetti sought treatment for a thigh injury after three games of the third set and played just one more game before shaking hands.

The Italian was leading 6-4 6-3 1-3, but it quickly became clear he was in major trouble as he barely moved to shots, and he pulled off his bandana before heading to the net.

Djokovic, who was forced out of last year’s semi-final here through injury, admitted he was extremely fortunate, saying: “I don’t know what to say except that I feel really sorry for him.

“He was the far better player, I was on my way home. It happened to me a few times but being in the quarters of a slam, two sets to love up, in full control, so unfortunate. I wish him a speedy recovery and he should have been the winner today no doubt.”

Djokovic is making his latest attempt to win a record 25th grand slam title and he may feel the stars are aligning after scheduled fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik was unable to take to the court because of injury.

“I’m going to double my prayers tonight of gratitude to the God for really giving me the opportunity,” he said. “I’m going to do my best in a couple of days to use it.”

After starting the match by winning the first two games, Djokovic was unable to find anything like his best level, making 32 unforced errors.

He appeared to be the one in physical trouble when he took a medical timeout ahead of the third set for treatment to a large blister on his right foot.

“Blister here and there, nothing major bothering me, I just wasn’t really feeling the ball today,” added Djokovic.

The Serbian had reached the quarter-finals without dropping a set, and went into the match fresh after Mensik’s withdrawal allowed him three days off.

Initially he looked to be hitting the ball very well, but his old weakness on smashes came back to haunt him in the third game and soon Musetti was 4-2 up.

The Italian surged up the rankings last year, showing a much greater resilience to go with his extravagant shot-making and he was aiming for a first top-five victory at a grand slam.

That was very much on the cards when he began the second set by getting the better of three successive breaks of serve.

Another helped him to secure the second set after a generous act of sportsmanship from Djokovic, who had been awarded the point to lead 40-15, but admitted that he had touched a shot from Musetti that dropped wide.

The first sign of Musetti’s discomfort came when he was broken to trail 2-1 in the third set and, in scenes reminiscent of last year’s Wimbledon, when Grigor Dimitrov led by two sets to love against Jannik Sinner only to be forced out, he was unable to continue.

It is not the first time the 23-year-old has had his body fail him in a big match, with the Italian pulling out of the French Open last year during his semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.