Novak Djokovic produces 'one of his greatest wins' to defeat Carlos Alcaraz in four-set thriller

Novak Djokovic has defied injury to seal his spot in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, knocking out Carlos Alcaraz in a four-set epic.

Over three hours and 37 minutes, both men fought valiantly and Djokovic had to take a medical timeout in the first set.

The Serbian went on to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

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"Djokovic delivers one of his finest performances," Todd Woodbridge said on Nine.

"Remarkable, wasn't it? What a performance ... got to be one of his greatest wins," Lleyton Hewitt added.

At 4-4 in the first set, Djokovic had to stretch out during a tense rally and eventually lost the point before going down on his haunches.

"This is not good news," Jim Courier said.

Alcaraz then broke the serve of Djokovic before the Serb left the court for medical attention.

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The Spaniard wrapped up the set 6-4 and it looked as if he could take control.

However, Djokovic showed all his class to tweak his game plan and attack the serve of Alcaraz before going on to win the final three sets of a match that finished at 1am (AEDT).

Post-match, Djokovic wasn't willing to divulge too much about his injury after a battle he described as "one of the most epic matches I've played on this court – on any court".

"Since I'm still in the tournament I don't want to reveal too much obviously," he said.

"The medication started to kick in and they helped, no doubt. I had to take another dose ... to be honest, if I lose that second set I don't know if I would've continued playing.

Djokovic said he started to feel "better and better" and played a "great couple of games" to take the second set.

"I saw that Carlos was hesitant a little bit from the back of the court and I took my chances and started to feel better, started to move better," he said.

"It didn't bother me, it didn't create any hindrance towards the end of the match ... obviously when the medications start to release I'll see what the reality is tomorrow morning."

The world No.7 now stays on a path to winning his 100th career title but will have to defeat Alexander Zverev in the semi-final to reach the decider.