Another thriller in New York City sees Nole come from behind to beat Berrettini and move into semis

Novak Djokovic moved within two matches of completing the first men's calendar-year singles Grand Slam in 52 years on Wednesday, rallying to defeat Italian Matteo Berrettini in a US Open quarter-final.

Top-ranked Djokovic stretched his Grand Slam win streak to 26 matches by eliminating sixth seed Berrettini 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a rematch of July's Wimbledon final.

The world number one booked a semi-final date Friday against Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, who beat Djokovic in the semi-finals in Tokyo.

Djokovic is trying to become the first man to win all four major titles in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969, but he wasn't ready to ponder the glory of that challenge just yet as he claimed he only wants to think about the upcoming match. The 34-year-old Serbian also seeks his fourth US Open title and men's record 21st career Slam trophy, which would lift him one above the mark he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both absent with injuries.

German fourth seed Zverev, last year's US Open runner-up, reached his fourth career Slam semi-final by eliminating South Africa's 46th-ranked Lloyd Harris 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-4. Zverev denied Djokovic's bid for a "Golden Slam" sweep of all four major titles plus Olympic gold, but Djokovic leads their all-time rivalry 6-3. Zverev is on a 16-match win streak that includes a title last month at Cincinnati. Djokovic didn't play between the Olympics and the Open.

Djokovic improved to 4-0 in his rivalry with Berrettini, who was chasing his third Slam semi-final after the 2019 US Open and his career-best Wimbledon runner-up effort. Berrettini secured the first break with a forehand cross-court winner to seize a 6-5 lead, then squandered three set points before Djokovic sent a forehand wide to surrender a tension-packed first set after 77 minutes.

After dropping the opening set for a third consecutive match, Djokovic broke for a 3-1 lead in the second when Berrettini sent a backhand long, his power struggling to cope with the all-around finesse of Djokovic's game. Berrettini netted a backhand to surrender a break and the second set and Djokovic broke again in game two of the third and again in the last to claim the set.

A passing forehand winner to break gave Djokovic a 2-0 lead in the fourth set and the Serbian held out from there to win in three hours and 27 minutes.

"It was a great match, a lot of energy on the court. When I lost the first set, I managed to forget about it, move on, be in the moment. I was dialed in, locked in from the beginning of the second set and was able to raise my level."

Zverev was down set point in his opening tie-breaker before Harris sent two forehands long and Zverev blasted a service winner to take the first set. The German broke Harris for a 2-0 lead in the second set and held serve from there. In the third, Zverev broke Harris in the first and third games and won after two hours and six minutes with his 21st ace of the match. The best prior Slam run for Harris was to the third round of this year's Australian Open.

US OPEN

Men

Quarter-finals

Tuesday

Felix Auger-Aliassime - Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 3-1, Alcaraz retired

Daniil Medvedev -Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 7-5

Wednesday

Novak Djokovic - Matteo Berrettini 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3

Alexander Zverev - Lloyd Harris 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-4

Women

Quarter-finals

Tuesday

Leylah Fernandez - Elina Svitolina 6-3, 3-6, 7-6

Aryna Sabalenka - Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 6-4

Wednesday

Emma Raducanu - Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4

Maria Sakkari - Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-4

Semi-finals

Friday

02.05: (1.27) Sabalenka A. - Fernandez L. (3.40)

03.20: (1.60) Sakkari M. - Raducanu E. (2.19)