MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic continued his quest for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and standalone 25th Grand Slam crown, but only after a cruel twist of fate for Lorenzo Musetti, who quit their quarter-final with an injury on Wednesday while leading.
While the stars seemed to align for the 38-year-old Serb in his hunt for more glory at the majors, Iga Swiatek’s bid to seal a career Grand Slam — capturing all four of the sport’s biggest titles — went up in smoke following a defeat by Elena Rybakina.
There were several swings in momentum for Jessica Pegula, who deservedly reached the Melbourne Park semifinals for the first time after dashing fellow American Amanda Anisimova’s hopes of reaching three straight major finals.
The drama in the day session was reserved for the afternoon match where Djokovic arrived fresh for battle with Musetti after getting a walkover on Sunday from Czech youngster Jakub Mensik, which scuttled their fourth-round meeting.
The Serb made a fast start but it was all one-way traffic as the artistic Musetti showed his full range of strokes and bagged the opening two sets, before the Italian pulled up holding the upper part of his right leg at the start of the third.
Musetti looked to soldier on after receiving treatment, but lasted only one more game and he threw in the towel leading 6-4 6-3 1-3 as stunned fans at the Rod Laver Arena let out a gasp and Djokovic quietly heaved a sigh of relief.
“I don’t know what to say, except that I feel really sorry for him and he was a far better player,” Djokovic said.
“I was on my way home. These things happen in sport and it’s happened to me a few times, but being in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, two sets to love up and being in full control, I mean it’s so unfortunate.”
Musetti said he was pained by having to retire after taking a big lead against the experienced Djokovic, adding the trouble in his leg first began in the second set.
“I felt there was something strange,” he added.
“I continued to play, because I was playing really well, but I was feeling that the pain was increasing, and the problem was not going away.
“In the end, when I took the medical timeout ... and started to play again, I felt it even more and it was getting higher and higher, the level of the pain.”
Tough test
Though he eclipsed Roger Federer with his 103rd match win at Melbourne Park, the task will only get tougher for Djokovic with a clash against either defending champion Jannik Sinner or young American Ben Shelton in the last-four.
As one fifth seed crashed, another gained flight as Elena Rybakina booked her place in the semifinals with a dominant 7-5 6-1 win over six-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek.
Swiatek was left to rue the defeat and the lack of privacy in difficult moments off the court where players cannot escape cameras, a day after Coco Gauff’s racket-smashing meltdown in response to her crushing defeat by Elina Svitolina.
“The question is, are we tennis players or are we animals in the zoo, where they are observed even when they poop?” she said.
“That was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have privacy. It would be nice also to have your own process and not always be observed.”
All eyes were on sixth seed Pegula later as she stayed on course for her maiden Grand Slam trophy by going past Anisimova 6-2 7-6(1), sparkling despite some testing moments toward the end of the clash.
“I’m really happy with my performance,” Pegula said.
“From start to finish there was a lot of momentum swings, but I thought I came out playing really well, came out serving really well, and was able to just hold on there in the second and get that break back and take it in two.
“I showed good mental resilience there at the end not to get frustrated.”
Djokovic reaches Australian Open semis as Musetti retires
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Djokovic reaches Australian Open semis as Musetti retires
- Serb continues his quest for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and standalone 25th Grand Slam crown
- Task gets tougher for Djokovic with a clash against either defending champion Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton
San Siro prepares for last dance with Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony
- Friday’s ceremony will likely be the last major international sporting event hosted at a stadium which is so beloved it is nicknamed ‘Football’s La Scala’ after Milan’s historic opera house
- The iconic old ground is on course to be replaced by a shiny new arena after a century of hosting Inter Milan and AC Milan matches
MILAN: One of the world’s most famous stadiums is set for a last hurrah on the international stage with the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics at the San Siro on Friday.
Long considered one of the temples of football, the San Siro will introduce the Milan-Cortina Games to the world with a ceremony featuring an athletes’ parade held in all four “clusters” of a sprawling Olympics being held across a vast area of northern Italy.
But the iconic old ground is on course to be replaced by a shiny new arena after a century of hosting Inter Milan and AC Milan matches.
In September the local government of Italy’s economic capital approved a 197-million-euro ($229.5 million) sale of just over 28 hectares (70 acres) of public land, on which the San Siro sits, to the two clubs.
Inter and AC Milan will abandon the iconic ground once their new stadium is built, the idea being that it be finished in time to host matches at the 2032 European Championship to be jointly held in Italy and Turkiye.
The two Milan clubs — European football royalty now both owned by American investment funds — — are planning the construction of a modern 71,500-capacity stadium to the immediate west of the current San Siro, on an area currently occupied by matchday car parking and a local park.
Once the new ground is constructed, San Siro will be almost entirely demolished to make way for new parkland, office space and entertainment facilities.
The current stadium no longer meets European football governing body UEFA’s requirements to host major events and was denied the 2027 Champions League final.
That means Friday’s ceremony will likely be the last major international sporting event hosted at a stadium which is so beloved it is nicknamed “Football’s La Scala” after Milan’s historic opera house.
Milanese icon
The San Siro was inaugurated with a derby match between Inter and AC Milan on September 19, 1926 and over the years it has hosted World Cup and European Championship matches, as well as dozens of fixtures for the Italian national team.
Initially owned by AC Milan before being bought by the city in the 1930s, with Inter making it their home in 1947, the San Siro has been renovated several times, with the last major works being carried out ahead of the 1990 World Cup.
That restyling, which added a third tier to the stadium, gave the San Siro the futuristic look — with spiralling external columns and a striking red roof — that still catches the eye over three decades later.
The San Siro also doubles up as one of Italy’s premier concert venues, where some of the world’s biggest pop music stars have strutted their stuff since reggae icon Bob Marley became the first in 1980.
From the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, right up to contemporary superstars Beyonce and Taylor Swift, the stadium attracts massive crowds for summertime performances from international hit machines and local favorites like Grammy-winning rock band Maneskin.
The new stadium should it be built as scheduled by the end of 2030, but with a final project a long way from being approved by the city, nothing is certain, especially with local elections coming next year.
Politicians on the local and national stage have repeatedly expressed anger at the idea of knocking down a symbol of Milan and in 2023 succeeded in torpedoing a previous attempt by the clubs to build a new stadium on the same site.
