Djokovic reached his 13th Wimbledon semi-final, after ninth seed Australian De Minaur announced shortly after lunchtime at the All England Club that he was "devastated to withdraw due to a hip injury".

Djokovic's place in the semi-finals means he has equalled the men's record of 13 Wimbledon semi-final appearances set by Switzerland's Roger Federer and is closing in on the Swiss great's record of eight singles titles.

The 37-year-old Serb extended his record by reaching his 49th Grand Slam semi-final, where he will meet 22-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who beat 13th seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in a five-set match.

De Minaur, who beat Djokovic at the United Cup in January, said: "It's no secret that this would have been the biggest match of my career, but it's a unique injury.

"I woke up this morning hoping for a miracle, but there was a high risk of aggravating the injury if I stepped on the court." A stretch, a slide could turn this from a three to six week injury to a four month injury," lamented the Sydney-born player, who was born in February 1999.

The world number two, who underwent knee surgery last month, has no titles to his name this year and is still searching for his first win over a top-10 player.

If he wins the English Grand Slam, it will be the 25th of his prolific career and further cement his status as the greatest in history, at least in terms of Grand Slam titles.

The Serb has a 5-1 record against Musetti, including a five-set victory at Roland Garros last month. "Djokovic knows these courts better than I do," admitted the Italian.

"He is a legend everywhere and has done unimaginable things. We've played each other a lot and I'm expecting a great battle. It's the toughest challenge in tennis, but I'm an ambitious guy and I like to be challenged. I will give 100 per cent," said the native of Carrara, Sardinia.

In the women's draw, the Russian-born Elena Rybakina, now competing for Kazakhstan, continued her ruthless run, easily beating last year's semi-finalist Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes.

Rybakina, the 2022 champion, will face Barbora Krejcikova for a place in Saturday's final after the 31st seed defeated Jelena Ostapenko in a clash of former French Open champions. Rybakina extended her record to 19-2 in main draw matches at Wimbledon and is now two matches away from repeating her triumph at the British Open.