rich 888 Australian Open: Zverev Into Final After Djokovic Injury

Novak Djokovic withdrew from his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev due to injury in a shocking twist at Melbourne Park. (More Tennis News)

Djokovic sustained a muscular injury in his titanic tussle with Carlos Alcaraz earlier this week, and came onto the court at Rod Laver Arena on Friday with heavy strapping around his left leg.

He appeared to seize up towards the end of the first set, which lasted 82 minutes and needed a tiebreak to be decided, with Zverev taking a 7-6 (7-5) lead when Djokovic sliced a volley into the net from close range.

Djokovic immediately approached and embraced Zverev before turning to the umpire to withdraw. Some sections of the support began to jeer the 10-time champion as he made his way off court.

The 37-year-old had squandered three break points while fending off five before he conceded.

Defending champions India will now face off against China, who beat Pakistan in the first semi-final.

Earlier in the match, a raucous crowd gave the Chinese players full support as they faced a formidable Pakistan. The game started slow with both teams struggling to find space in each other's defence. However, China kept control of the ball and made more attacks than Pakistan.

Zverev, who is searching for his maiden major title, is into his first Australian Open final,ph222 casino and will face either Ben Shelton or defending champion Jannik Sinner.

2 - This is only Novak Djokovic's second loss via retirement at the Australian Open, after conceding to Andy Roddick in the 2009 quarter-final. Shocking.#AO2025 | @AustralianOpen @atptour @ATPMediaInfo

Data Debrief: Despair for Djokovic

Playing in his 100th Australian Open match, Djokovic could just not last.

This marks only the second time he has retired from a match at the major, after conceding to Andy Roddick in the 2009 quarter-final. Indeed, Djokovic had last retired from a grand slam match back in 2019, against Stan Wawrinka at the 2019 US Open.

It makes Zverev only the second male player in the Open Era to have both won and lost a grand slam semi-final via retirement, after Rafael Nadal - one of whose wins came against the German at the 2022 French Open.

This is only the fourth men's singles semi-final to be decided via retirement at the Australian Open in the Open Era after 1970 (Arthur Ashe-Dennis Ralston)rich 888, 1995 (Andre Agassi-Aaron Krickstein) and 2018 (Roger Federer-Hyeon Chung).