London: Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the fifth consecutive year, coming back to beat 26th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Djokovic, the 2011 champion and 2013 runner-up at the All England Club, has reached at least the semi-finals at 16 of his past 17 Grand Slam tournaments.
He improved to 10-0 against Cilic, who was in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.
On Friday, Djokovic will face No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated defending champion Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.
"Novak really played terrific the last two sets," said three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker, who's coaching Djokovic. "That was the first real test for him."
Djokovic was troubled by Cilic, to be sure, but also by repeated slips that prompted the Serb to change his shoes midway through the match. Playing on No. 1 Court, Djokovic also was rattled by intermittent cheering from outside the arena for Murray, whose match was played simultaneously across the way.
"I said to the chair umpire: 'Let's just stop (our) match, put (theirs) live on the big screen, and let's watch it 'til they're done,'" recounted Djokovic, last year's runner-up to Murray.
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