Australia's Alex De Minaur pulled out of his Wimbledon quarterfinal against second seed Novak Djokovic on Wednesday due to a hip injury, with the walkover sending the Serbian into a record-equaling 13th semifinal at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

The ninth-seeded De Minaur sustained the injury in the closing stages of his 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 fourth-round win over Frenchman Arthur Fils on Monday.

"I'm devastated to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fiber cartilage that is at the end of, or connects to the adductor," said De Minaur, who stunned Djokovic at the United Cup team tournament in the opening week of the season.

"I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday, and it confirmed this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court," De Minaur added, The 25-year-old has reached two Grand Slam quarterfinals, losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open and Alexander Zverev at this year's French Open.

"I knew the results (of the scan) yesterday, but hoped I would wake up today and feel some sort of miracle," said De Minaur, who is enjoying his best season on the ATP Tour having reached the top 10. "The problem with me going out and playing is one stretch, one slide, one anything can make this injury go from three-to-six weeks to four months."

De Minaur is now in a race to be fit for the Paris Summer Olympics, where the tennis event begins at Roland Garros on July 27. His withdrawal meant seven-time champion Djokovic equaled Roger Federer's record of 13 appearances in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Djokovic is also looking to match the Swiss maestro's tally of eight titles at the All England Club, and the 37-year-old will next face 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who outlasted the USA's Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in a grueling five-set quarterfinal.