Australian Open 2019: Novak Djokovic through to semi-finals after Kei Nishikori retires due to injury

Forty-eight hours after struggling to finish a gruelling fourth-round match here at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic benefited from his opponent’s physical problems to secure a place in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park for the tenth time in his career.

Djokovic had admitted to “not feeling great” for the last 20 minutes of his victory over Daniil Medvedev on Monday, but Kei Nishikori was in an even worse state when he took on the world No 1 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Nishikori retired hurt when trailing 6-1, 4-1 as he paid the price for his physical exertions earlier in the tournament.

On the same day as Djokovic had toiled against Medvedev, Nishikori had been taken to five sets for the second time in a week. The 29-year-old Japanese eventually beat Pablo Carreno Busta in a deciding tie-break, but only after the longest match of the tournament at five hours and five minutes.

Nishikori, who has now lost to Djokovic 15 times in a row, was struggling from the start as the Serb broke serve at the first attempt. At the end of the opening set he took a medical time-out and after five more games he retired.

After the match Nishikori said he had felt a problem in his right leg early in the first set. “After that I couldn’t really bend my knees and I couldn’t jump up, so I decided to stop,” he said. “I’m sure it comes from my past matches, especially my last match. I was moving a lot, wasting too much energy.”

Djokovic expressed his sympathy for Nishikori. “I’m really sorry to see him go through pain,” he said. “He’s had some tough injuries in the last couple of years. I’m sure he’s not feeling great about ending a Grand Slam this way, but he’s had some marathon matches this tournament that have probably taken a toll on his body.”

The six-time champion said his own condition had improved following his last match. “This is exactly what the doctor ordered for me after my match two nights ago – not to spend too much time on the court,” he said.

Djokovic will now take on Lucas Pouille, who has also played some long matches in this tournament but looked in good shape against Milos Raonic. The 24-year-old Frenchman won 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 after holding off a bold comeback by the former Wimbledon finalist.

Pouille had lost all three of his previous meetings with Raonic and had gone out in the first round on all five of his previous visits to Melbourne Park, but his confidence has soared with his performances here.

The quarter-final could have been over in three sets as Pouille had break points in the seventh and ninth games, but Raonic hung on and at the end of the third set played a good tie-break, which he won 7-2. The fourth set went with serve until Pouille broke in the tenth game to secure his victory.

Pouille appointed Amelie Mauresmo as his coach at the end of 2018 after reaching a point where he had stopped enjoying tennis for the first time since he took up the sport 16 years ago.

“It was the first time that I lost that joy of being on the court, going to practice, practising hard,” Pouille recalled. “I don’t really know why it happened. Then you lose one match, two matches, three matches and you lose confidence. It’s tough to come back when you’re not enjoying it.

“I took some time to think about myself, about my career, about what I wanted to do. I said: ‘OK, you have maybe 10 more years on tour. Do you want to spend them like this or do you want to enjoy it, enjoy playing on the biggest courts of the world in front of some unbelievable crowds, achieve some great goals, great titles?’

“I said: ‘OK, now you have to move your ass a little bit and go back to it. If you don’t want to practise one day, don’t do it. Just do it when you want.’ That’s how it came back.”

Andy Murray had some negative reaction from other players when he appointed Mauresmo as his coach but Pouille said he had not experienced the same.

“Men are coaching women, so why not the contrary?” the world No 31 said. “It’s not about being a man or a woman, it’s about knowing tennis, about having a good state of mind. She’s a champion. She’s a great coach.”

He added: “I think she’s bringing a lot of confidence to my game, to my personality, to my state of mind. As I said at the beginning, the goal here is not to reach the final or the semi-finals. The goal is to improve my tennis, to put what I work on during practice into the match. That gives me less pressure. I’m just trying to focus on my game, not on the consequences and the results.”

“I was not expecting to make the semis or even the quarters here. I just wanted to take things step by step. The first goal of the tournament was to win the first match and so on. When I played a good match, I had to focus on the second one and so on.

“Confidence comes back with victories. That’s why I think I played a great match today, because I had won four matches. The five-set match against [Alexei] Popyrin gave me a lot of confidence. I needed that kind of tough battle to bring my confidence back.”