Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic wins grueling 5-set thriller over Felix Auger-Aliassime, setting up semifinal with reigning champion Jannik Sinner

After a few close calls, Jannik Sinner triumphed last year and won Wimbledon for the first time in his career. He needed to take down some premier opponents on his way to victory.

>This year will be no different. If Sinner wants to repeat as Wimbledon champion, his path is about to get a lot harder. Following their wins Tuesday, top seed Sinner will meet No. 7 seed Novak Djokovic in the semifinals Friday.

>Djokovic defeated No. 3 seed Auger-Aliassime Tuesday, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 in a grueling quarterfinal that took 5:15 to complete as the longest match yet of the tournament and the longest of Auger-Aliassime’s career. It stands as the longest men’s quarterfinal match in Wimbledon history.

>Djokovic took a 2-1 lead into the fourth set and scored an early break for a 2-0 lead with a chance to close out the match. But Auger-Aliassime rallied to win three straight games and ultimately secured the set in a tiebreak to force the fifth and decisive set.

>Neither player conceded a service game as the fifth set went into a 6-6 tiebreak in which the first player to 10 points and leading by two would win the match. Djokovic struck first and took a 5-3 lead on a 19-shot rally on Auger-Aliassime’s serve. He extended the lead to 7-3 on his own serve and went on to win the tiebreak, 10-4.

>Sinner, by comparison, cruised into the semifinals earlier Tuesday via a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over unseeded Jan-Lennard Struff. Both players with have two days off from competition to rest and prepare for Friday’s semifinal match.

>But Sinner, 24, projects to enter the match with an advantage over a 39-year-old Djokovic who just played won of the longest matches of his career.

Rematch from last year’s semifinalsThe matchup should be familiar to Sinner, as the two squared off in the Wimbledon semifinals last year. Sinner turned in a dominant performance in that match, beating Djokovic in straight sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-4).

>At the time, it was Sinner's fifth-straight win over Djokovic. After going 1-4 against the Serbian to start his career, Sinner has dominated Djokovic since, going 5-1 against him.

>But that one loss is notable, as it came the last time the two squared off. At the 2026 Australian Open, Djokovic toppled Sinner to advance to the final. Djokovic eventually lost that final to Carlos Alcaraz, who was forced to pull out of Wimbledon due to an elbow injury.

>Djokovic represents the toughest challenge Sinner has faced so far at Wimbledon in 2026. Sinner hasn't squared off against another top-10 seeded player yet. That's not uncommon early in a Grand Slam. Sinner only had one other opportunity to face a top-10 seeded opponent prior to the semifinals, but that match didn't happen after No. 8 Daniil Medvedev was upset by Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.

>Outside of a rough first-round match, in which Sinner needed five sets to dispatch Miomir Kecmanovic, the Italian hasn't run into much trouble at Wimbledon. He's defeated every other opponent in straight sets, though multiple players — including Struff — have forced Sinner to win tiebreaks during matches.

>With Alcaraz out of Wimbledon in 2026, the door is open for Sinner to go back-to-back at the Grand Slam. In order to make that a reality, however, Sinner will have to get past Djokovicin the semifinals. While Sinner has proven adept at dispatching Djokovic in previous head-to-head matches, it will mark the men's No. 1's toughest challenge at the event so far.