Highlights: Australian Open day 10

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Highlights of Wednesday’s 10th day of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year (all times GMT):

0944 NISHIKORI RETIRES FROM SEMI-FINAL

Novak Djokovic reached the semi-finals after Kei Nishikori retired injured while trailing 6-1 4-1.

Japan’s Nishikori, who has spent close to 14 hours on court before the match, called for the trainer and received treatment for a right thigh problem after the first set before he was forced to retire.

0747 POUILLE REACHES MAIDEN SLAM SEMI-FINAL

Lucas Pouille defeated big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6(4) 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4 in a little over three hours to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

Pouille trailed 2-5 but came back to clinch the first set in the tiebreak, before racing through the next. Raonic claimed the third set to give himself hope, but Frenchman Pouille switched gears in the next to seal the win on his third match point.

0421 PLISKOVA ENDS WILLIAMS’ RUN

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova overcame Serena Williams 6-4 4-6 7-5 to storm into the semi-finals where she takes on U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka.

The Czech looked strong in the first set but dropped the next as Williams got into her groove. Williams raced to a 5-1 lead in the decider but appeared to sustain an ankle injury, allowing Pliskova to fight back and prevail in two hours and 10 minutes.

Defeat ended Williams’ quest to claim a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam crown.

0233 OSAKA PLEASED WITH PERFORMANCE AGAINST SVITOLINA

Naomi Osaka said keeping her temper in check had helped her seal a comfortable 6-4 6-1 win over sixth seed Elina Svitolina to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

“For me, today, I had one goal – it was to try as hard as I can and not get angry. I didn’t do that well in the past two rounds, but I played well today,” the Japanese said.

“I tried to be consistent, or as consistent as I can be. She is really good but unfortunately she was injured. But playing against her injured was really tough.”