London: Favourite Novak Djokovic trailed for the first time at this year's Wimbledon but responded in brutal fashion to beat Andrey Rublev 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-3 to reach the semifinals on Tuesday.
Inspired seventh seed Rublev snatched the opening set but it was akin to poking a sleeping grizzly bear as Djokovic exacted painful punishment to stay on track for a fifth straight title.
Rublev played some brilliant tennis that would have accounted for pretty much any other player in the world.
But it was not enough to stop the 36-year-old Djokovic reaching his 46th Grand Slam semi-final, equalling the record of eight-time champion Roger Federer.
Second seed Djokovic will face Jannik Sinner in the his 12th Wimbledon semi-final after the Italian also beat a Russian opponent in Roman Safiullin earlier on Tuesday.
When Rublev broke serve in the eighth game courtesy of a couple of beefy forehands and held serve thanks to a Djokovic error to win the opening set it seemed a first win in a Grand Slam quarter-final at the eighth attempt was possible - even against a man without a Centre Court loss for a decade.
But Djokovic quickly reasserted his authority to race through a one-sided second set.
The Serbian was in control as he broke serve early in the third set but Rublev was not done and Djokovic was stretched to his elastic-limbed limits when serving at 5-4, fending off three break points and needing five set points in a sensational game to move within a set of his 33rd successive Wimbledon win.
Briefly deflated, the 25-year-old Rublev fell 3-1 behind in the fourth set and there was no coming back as Djokovic wrapped up the win in his 400th Grand Slam match, a milestone reached only be Federer and Serena Williams.
Vondrousova enters semi after a roller-coaster
Unseeded Marketa Vondrousova reached the semifinals of Wimbledon with a roller-coaster 6-4 2-6 6-4 win over American Jessica Pegula.
The Czech came through a topsy-turvy encounter on Court One against the fourth seed to book a clash with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, who beat world number one Iga Swiatek.
The first set was a whirlwind with five breaks of serve in nine games, the momentum swinging wildly while many spectators were still taking their seats under sunny skies.
However, it was 24-year-old Vondrousova who secured the crucial break at 4-4 when a baseline rally ended with Pegula sending a backhand long.
The Czech brought up set point with an ace and duly held to love as she eyed a first Grand Slam semi-final since her runner-up finish at the French Open in 2019.
The twists and turns kept coming, though, as Pegula began finding her range in the second set. She began approaching the net more often with great success, breaking her left-handed opponent early en route to taking a 4-1 lead.
The American broke again at 5-2 with an excellent low volley to level the match, as 42nd ranked Vondrousova struggled with her shot placement despite being the more powerful hitter from the baseline.
In the decider, momentum looked to be staying with the 29-year-old Pegula as she saved three break points in the first three games and then broke Vondrousova by forcing her long.
But there was still time for one final twist. The roof was closed, as rain was expected, and when play resumed Vondrousva broke back twice more, as well as breaking her opponent's resistance from the baseline in a terrific game to lead 5-4.
She served out the match to book her semi-final spot, becoming the third woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon last four after defeating four seeded opponents - after Zheng Jie in 2008 and Barbora Strycova in 2019.
"It was very tough and just an amazing feeling ... I never played here on court number one. It's amazing. I just wanted to stay as long as I could and fought until the end and I'm just so happy. I cannot believe it, actually," she said on court.
For Pegula, it was another quarter-final heartbreak, having never gone beyond the last eight at a Grand Slam.
