Australian Open: Grigor Dimitrov suffers shock quarter-finals exit to world No 114 Aslan Karatsev

Aslan Karatsev has become the first man ever to reach the semi-finals in his Grand Slam debut during the professional era.

The 114th-ranked qualifier from Russia advanced to the last four at the Australian Open with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Bulgaria’s 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.

Dimitrov won the opening set easily but looked sluggish in the second and stopped chasing shots in the third as injury took hold.

World No 114 Aslan Karatsev’s fairytale Australian Open is continuing to the semi-finals

The unfavoured Russian bulldozed his way into the last four by beating Grigor Dimitrov

Bulgarian star Dimitrov took a medical timeout but was never the same in the quarter-final

After that set, Dimitrov was visited by a trainer and then took a medical timeout for treatment on a muscle problem around his hip or back.

He returned for the fourth set but couldn’t compete and Karatsev completed his stunning victory to continue his fairytale story in Melbourne.

Dimitrov hadn’t dropped a set in his first four matches. Karatsev was coming off his first-ever five-setter after coming back from two sets down to beat world No 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime. 

Dimitrov became sluggish and stopped chasing points as his body broke down in the match

He beat eighth-seeded Diego Schwartzman in straight sets for his first win over a Top 10 player.

Karatsev will play either defending champion Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev next.

Victory sees Karatsev become the lowest-ranked male player to reach a semi-final at a Grand Slam since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.  

More to follow. 

There was a great deal of respect between the two at the end as Karatsev (right) marches on