Wimbledon 2026: Novak Djokovic survives thriller with Felix Auger-Aliassime, sets semifinal vs. Jannik Sinner

Seventh-seeded Novak Djokovic is heading back to the semifinals at Wimbledon where he'll face a familiar foe after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime (7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6) in Tuesday's quarterfinals. The win sets up a rematch against last year's tournament champion Jannik Sinner, who cruised in straights against Jan-Lennard Struff.

The only player to break third-seeded Auger-Aliassime's serve twice at Wimbledon, Djokovic is two victories shy of his record-extending 25th grand slam and now holds 45 career wins over top-five players on the ATP Tour, the most ever. 

"A lot of management of the nerves and extreme tension you feel in these kind of matches," Djokovic said. "It was anybody's game. I think the score line was pretty much even all the way through. That's kind of a reality image or presentation of this kind of match today. It was really anybody's game in the super tiebreak in the fifth. These are the kind of moments I still play tennis for, for sure." 

During the longest match of the tournament thus far at just over five hours, Djokovic was precise in the fifth-set tiebreaker, moving ahead 4-2 at the change of ends on the strength of a drop winner to open and multiple errors from Auger-Aliassime. Djokovic closed it out with the 10th point on an errant return  — one of nine in the tiebreaker — from Auger-Aliassime to prevail.

By the numbers: Fifth-set tiebreaker

Djokovic has now reached the semifinals at Wimbledon a record-setting eight consecutive years and his seven career titles at the All-England Club trails only Roger Federer (8). Sinner hasn't dropped a set since his five-setter against 50th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round after he overcame a bloodied nail inside of his right shoe.

The favorite to win Wimbledon after Carlos Alcaraz pulled out with a wrist injury, Sinner is playing his first tournament since being upset in the second round of the French Open in May after succumbing to unranked Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo in blistering conditions.

Djokovic snapped a five-game losing streak to the top-ranked player in the world earlier this year during the Australian Open semifinals. He is 5-6 against Sinner, who holds four major titles -- all coming since his first at Melbourne Park in 2024.

Djokovic battles through hard-fought victory

From the opening set tiebreaker onward, it was evident Auger-Aliassime -- who has never advanced past the Wimbledon quarterfinals -- was not going down without a grueling fight.

"I wish it was finals so I don't need to worry about how the body will feel tomorrow, but I'm happy I won," Djokovic said.

On his fifth set point of the opening set, Djokovic benefited from an unforced error from Auger-Aliassime to win 12-10. The first set was a marathon lasting 82 minutes. Leading 5-3 in the second set but trailing 30-40, Auger-Aliassime saved a lob from Djokovic after running it down before hitting a winner down the line on the 11th shot of the point. 

Auger-Aliassime took the second set before Wimbledon officials closed the roof at Center Court, despite both players wanting to continue the match outdoors.

"The other day you didn't want to close it until like 8:20, 8:30, and now you want to close it?" Djokovic said to the tournament official at the change of ends, via TennisHead. "You don't want to get to 8:30? It's 7:40 now. We could play a whole other set.

"We could play another set outdoors. We are an outdoor tournament. I don't care about what happened with Jannik. Remember what happened in the first round? We did not close it until 8:20 or 8:30. Where is the consistency?"

Through the first two sets, Auger-Aliassime won all 11 service games and then took his first service game in the third despite facing double break point. He concluded the game by obliterating a Djokovic lob attempt at deuce with a leaping smash before finishing it off with an unreturnable serve.

The second game of the third set lasted nearly 14 minutes, but that's when the window quickly closed for the Canadian. Djokovic took control of the match after finally notching his first break in nine opportunities to push ahead 4-2 in the third.

That was the first time all match that Auger-Aliassime, as calm and collected as he has ever looked in a major, began to unravel against one of the game's best-ever opponents. Prior to losing that service game, Auger-Aliassime had won 82 of his previous 83 at Wimbledon.

Djokovic broke Auger-Aliassime again in the first game of the fourth set, finishing it off after a 24-shot rally with a forehand pass down the line. Auger-Aliassime slammed his racket during the mid-court change over, noticeably frustrated after momentum shifted to Djokovic.

However, Auger-Aliassime took the next three games of the set to pull ahead 3-2 before setting up the tiebreaker to try and extend the match to a fifth.