LONDON — Lorenzo Musetti threw his head back and spread his arms wide to celebrate reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal, then covered his face with both hands.
His 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon was a big deal, to be sure. After all, the 25th-seeded Musetti, a 22-year-old from Italy, never had made it past the third round at the All England Club — or past the fourth round at any Grand Slam tournament _ until this edition of the grass-court major championship.
Now, though, comes a far tougher test: taking on Novak Djokovic.
“He probably knows, better than me, the surface and the stadium, for sure,” Musetti said with a chuckle, aware he’ll be making his Centre Court debut Friday. “Jokes apart, he’s a legend everywhere, but especially here in Wimbledon.”
It will be Djokovic’s record-tying 13th singles semifinal at Wimbledon alone, equaling Roger Federer, and record-extending 49th Grand Slam singles semifinal overall. As Musetti pursues his first major championship, Djokovic seeks his 25th — which would give him sole possession of the Grand Slam singles titles mark he currently shares with Margaret Court — including what would be an eighth at Wimbledon to tie Federer for the most singles crowns at the All England Club.
The second-seeded Djokovic’s smooth trip through this year’s bracket was made even easier when his opponent for the quarterfinals, No. 9 Alex de Minaur, pulled out with a hip injury hours before their match was scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Musetti was forced to work for his spot in the final four. His 3 1/2-hour victory over the 13th-seeded Fritz was the 37th five-setter at Wimbledon this year, the most at any Grand Slam tournament.
Musetti acknowledged he didn’t get off to an ideal start, in part because of nerves, but an early break in the second set helped alter the course of the match.
“Immediately, I changed my mind. I changed my attitude,” he said. “And that probably made the difference.”
Playing on a sun-swathed No. 1 Court against Fritz, a 26-year-old American who is one of the sport’s biggest servers but fell to 0-4 in major quarterfinals, Musetti managed to accumulate 13 break points and convert six.
“I played my best tennis at the end,” Musetti said. “I kept the best for the end.”
With Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, in the stands and joining fans in doing the wave, Musetti did far more to vary his strokes — a drop shot here, a lob there, plenty of slices — than Fritz did.
“I just felt like it took a lot to finish the point,” Fritz said.
Djokovic reached last month’s French Open quarterfinals, but due to a torn meniscus, he did not play in that round at the clay-court major tournament and had knee surgery soon after withdrawing. Despite limitations in his movement over the past week and a half on the grass of the All England Club, the 37-year-old from Serbia has dropped only two sets so far.
He has faced a qualifier in the first round, a wild-card entrant in the second round and only one seeded player, No. 15 Holger Rune — and Djokovic beat him in straight sets on Monday, meaning he will have had three full days without a match before meeting Musetti. Friday’s other men’s semifinal has No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning champion, facing No. 5 Daniil Medvedev.
De Minaur, a 25-year-old from Australia who had reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time and was seeking his first Grand Slam semifinal berth, said he heard a crack at the end of his win against Arthur Fils on Monday and knew something was wrong. He underwent medical tests Tuesday that revealed the extent of the problem with his hip but tried to practice Wednesday morning, hoping to push through.
“This was the biggest match of my career,” de Minaur said, “so wanted to do anything I could to play.”
Djokovic and Musetti have played each other six times. Djokovic has won five of those, including last month’s third-round match at the French Open, a five-setter that concluded after 3 a.m. Djokovic’s knee injury occurred in his next match.
“We know each other pretty well. They’ve always been a huge fight, so I expect a big, big fight. It’s going to be one of the toughest challenges on tour,” Musetti said, “but I am an ambitious guy and I like to be challenged.”
In one of the women’s quarterfinals played earlier Wednesday, 25-year-old Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan continued her bid to repeat as champion when she took nine of the last 11 games in a 6-3, 6-2 win against No. 21 Elina Svitolina, a 29-year-old from Ukraine. In the other, a matchup of past French Open champions, No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova, a 28-year-old from the Czech Republic, won 6-4, 7-6 (4) to eliminate No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko, a 27-year-old from Latvia.
Krejcikova and Rybakina will meet Thursday, when the other women’s semifinal pits two 28-year-old players as No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy meets unseeded Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Rybakina ended her win with her seventh ace of the match and improved to 19-2 at Wimbledon in four appearances.
“Definitely, I have an aggressive style of game,” she said. “I have a huge serve, so it’s a big advantage.”
Krejcikova won her first Grand Slam title on the red clay at Roland Garros in 2021, but she had never put together a five-match winning streak on grass until her current run.
“It’s a great moment for me,” she said. “It’s an unbelievable moment that I’m experiencing right now.”