Djokovic survives five-hour thriller against Auger-Aliassime to reach Wimbledon semis

Djokovic serves first and wins the opening point, 1-0. AA overcooks another backhand, 2-0, missing by a long way. AA gobbles up a loopy return to send down a forehand winner, 2-1 Djokovic. The Serb doesn’t get lucky this time with another net chord, instead the ball sits up perfectly for AS to engineer a backhand volley, 2-2. Big return from AA to execute a fine angle on a forehand winner 2-3 AA. AA finds the net with a tame forehand effort 3-4. The Canadian strokes a sliced volley which Djokovic scampers towards but loops beyond the baseline. 4-3 AA, who then overcooks his return on Djokovic’s serve, 4-4. The Serb follows up with a superb backhand down the line to lead 5-4. HUGE serve from AA, 5-5. Just the slow 124 mph..a timely ace and eighth of this set. His subsequent serve is another quality one to pile the pressure on Djokovic, 6-5. The Serb serves out wide to target AA’s weaker backhand and is rewarded… 6-6. Nothing to separate these two at the moment. AA overcooks his return on Djokovic’s second serve.. The Serb goes 7-6 up. AA’s forehand has just enough top spin to dip and tickle the baseline.. 7-7. Djokovic throws the kitchen sink at the Canadian on the next point - some great defence from AA - as Djokovic leaks a surprising unforced error with his forehand. The Serb recovers by finding the line on his first serve, 8-8, before slipping again during the next rally. He gets away with it, as AA pushes a forehand effort behind the baseline, 9-8 to Djokovic. Oh dear, Djokovic’s backhand return floats wide, 9-9. He mistimed that. AA strokes a forehand, 10-9. This is a monster tie-break. Weird rally ensues.. Djokovic completely mishits his forehand, it swerves ridiculously but lands inside the court, before AA overcooks another forehand. AA returns long to hand Djokovic another set point.. And he has it! He takes the set after AA rips a long forehand winner. A marathon first set, which Djokovic take 7-6 (12-10).