Novak Djokovic shatters Roger Federer's record amid extreme NYC heat

It got so hot and humid at the US Open on Tuesday that the folks in charge adopted a new policy for the rest of this yearrsquos tournament They will partially shut the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof in extreme conditions to offer some extra shade The temperature climbed above 90 degrees Fahrenheit 32 Celsius and the humidity topped 50 per cent making it the steamiest day of this Grand SlamTeen Gauff in last fourThe change to the roof policy was made during Coco Gauffrsquos 60 62 victory over Jelena Ostapenko when the conditions crossed a threshold for protecting players in the heat but that match was over too quickly to adjust the retractable cover tournament referee Jake Garner told The Associated Press The 19yearold is the first American teenager to reach the US Open semifinals since Serena Williams in 2001Ben SheltonThe sixth seed will meet this yearrsquos French Open runnerup Karolina Muchova for a place in Saturdayrsquos final in a repeat of the championship match won by Gauff last month in Cincinnati ldquoIt feels great Irsquom so happyrdquo said Gauff ldquoLast year I lost in the quarterfinals stage and wanted to do better this yearrdquoAlso Read US Open Zheng Qinwen with Wang Xinyu advance to their maiden fourth roundMuchova marches onMuchova reached her second Grand Slam semifinal of the season with a 60 63 demolition of veteran Romanian 30th seed Sorana Cirstea The 10thseeded Czech broke six times and hit 32 winners in a consummate performance The new policy is ldquoin the best interest of fans and playersrdquo Garner saidAn Associated Press analysis showed the average high temperatures felt during the US Open and the three other major tennis tournaments steadily have gotten higher and more dangerous in recent decades reflecting the climate change that created record heat waves around the globe this summerCoco Gauff and Karolina MuchovaThe forecast calls for even hotter temperatures in the coming days the tournament ends Sunday Ashe was partly closed before Novak Djokovicrsquos 61 64 64 win against Taylor Fritz It still was muggy enough in there that Djokovic poured water over his head during one changeover Fritz removed his shirt and placed a rolledup towel filled with ice around his neck during anotherldquoIrsquom drenched in sweatrdquo Djokovic told the crowd in an oncourt interview ldquoJust very humid conditionsrdquo Fritz thought having less of an opening above the stadium increased how humid it seemed ldquoIt was definitely hot I feel like we played some pretty physical long points in the beginning of the match After a couple it hit me Irsquod say itrsquos more the humidity than anythingrdquo the ninthseeded American saidldquoI donrsquot feel like Irsquom ever bothered too much by the heat I feel like when itrsquos just really humid it just drains yourdquo Meanwhile Djokovic charged into a record 47th Grand Slam semifinal while home favourite Gauff stayed on track for her first major title Djokovic shrugged off ninth seed Fritz to extend his dominance of American players in New York and take another step closer to a recordextending 24th menrsquos Grand Slam titleThe 36yearold Serbian star will appear in his 13th US Open semifinal eclipsing the mark he shared with longtime nemesis Roger Federer for most appearances in the last four of a Grand SlamShelton stuns TiafoeDjokovic awaits the upandcoming Ben Shelton who took down 10th seed and 2022 semifinalist Frances Tiafoe in an allAmerican affair in Tuesdayrsquos night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium The unseeded Shelton unleashed 50 winners using his booming service and blistering forehand to devastating effect to beat Tiafoe 62 36 76 97 62 ldquoIrsquove been playing on this court for many years so many epic matches and I cannot wait for another one in a few daysrsquo timerdquo said Djokovic a threetime US Open championBopannaEbden storm into semisRohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden saved seven set points in the opening set before downing Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow to make the menrsquos doubles semifinals their second straight lastfour appearance in Grand Slams this yearRohan Bopanna left and partner Matthew Ebden PicAFPThe sixth seeded IndoAustralian pair beat the American combo 76 10 61 in the quarterfinals of the hard court major Bopanna and Ebden had reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships where they had lost to Wesley Koolhof and Neal SkupskiThe 43yearold Indian now has the opportunity to secure a place in a Grand Slam menrsquos doubles final for the second time in his career Interestingly it was in the US Open that Bopanna competed in his maiden Major final way back in 2010This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever