MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic had a perfect record in Australian Open semifinals, and he was playing almost flawless tennis to protect it.
It didn’t matter that across the net was Aslan Karatsev, a 114th-ranked, 27-year-old Russian who had come through qualifying to make his debut in a Grand Slam tournament after nine failed attempts.
Djokovic made only one unforced error in more than 50 minutes.
It was tight for the first seven games — before Djokovic reeled off eight straight points to win the first set — and again when Karatsev went on an all-or-nothing roll late in the second set.
