Ruthless Djokovic to face Roger Federer in the Australian Open semi-finals

Defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic qualified for the semi-finals of this year's competition. He will play against Roger Federer in the last four. The Serbian second seed beat Canadian 32nd seed Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-3, 7-6, (7-1) despite suffering an eye problem late in the third set.

Djokovic generally wears contact lenses while he is playing. Those lenses caused some irritation during the third set of his quarterfinal match against Raonic. However, he overcame the obstacle and clinched victory. He later apologised to Raonic for temporarily slowing down the momentum of the match.

So far this year at Melbourne, Djokovic has lost just one set. He is currently aiming for a record-extending eighth Australian Open title.

The 32-year-old will meet the Swiss third seed, Roger Federer, on Thursday. This will mark the pair's first Australian Open meeting since the Joker beat the 38-year-old during their 2016 semi-final encounter.

After securing a semi-final spot, Djokovic said, "I knew the return (against Raonic) would be key. How many balls I could get in play, get into the rallies and get him moving around the court. He (Federer) is one of the all-time greats and the match-ups against Roger and Rafa have made me the player I am today. I hope I can get just one match point against him. Let the better player win."

Djokovic has lost just three times at Melbourne Park over the past decade. The 16-time Grand Slam champion seems to be in fine form as he aims to move closer to Federer's record of 20 major titles.

Melbourne Park remains a witness to some of the finest performances of Djokovic's career. This year, the Serbian appears to be the man everyone dreams to beat.

Raonic, before stepping into last night's match, had not dropped any serve and neither did he drop a set in all his previous four encounters. However, Djokovic's energetic court coverage and relentless returning ensured that the 29-year-old couldn't maintain his invincible run.

In total, Djokovic created 12 break points across the openings two sets. He needed to convert just one break point in each set to advance to the last four.

After the match, Djokovic also paid tribute to the late American basketball legend, Kobe Bryant. The NBA behemoth died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

During the warm-up, Djokovic wore the initials 'KB' on his tracksuit. Later during an emotional post-match interview, the Joker also described Bryant as his "friend" and "mentor."