Novak Djokovic had a perfect record in the 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.