The Italian Jannik Sinner disenchanted defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
In Melbourne, Sinner somewhat surprisingly beat the Serbian world number one 6:1, 6:2, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3. For Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open ten times, it was the first semi-final defeat in his favorite tournament ever. Sinner converted his second match point after 3:22 hours.
Sinner: “Being in the final is great”
In the final on Sunday, Sinner will face either Alexander Zverev or the Russian Daniil Medvedev. The two arch-rivals will face each other in the second semi-final from 9.30 a.m. (CET/Eurosport).
“It was a very difficult game. I started really well and had the impression that he wasn’t feeling really well,” said Sinner after his impressive performance. “I lost to him in the Wimbledon semifinals last year, I learned a lot from that,” said the Italian. “Being in the final is great. I’ll go out on the pitch with a smile.”
Sinner started furiously in the Rod Laver Arena and immediately took Djokovic’s serve. The world number one seemed strangely inhibited and made many avoidable mistakes. Sinner, who had already won two of three duels with Djokovic at the end of last year, didn’t even need to play his best tennis to take the first set 6-1 after just 35 minutes.
In the second round, the Italian also dictated the action at will in what was only his second semi-final at Grand Slam level. Djokovic appeared unusually emotionless on his absolute favorite place and let the events unfold without much emotion.
Sinner breaks again in the fourth set
Only when he fended off a break ball at 2:4 did the Serb push himself. The crowd was immediately there and tried to push Djokovic forward. But Sinner stayed cool and took the second set after just 73 minutes. At this point, Djokovic had made 29 slight mistakes – the 36-year-old had never felt so bad in Melbourne.
It was only in the third round that Djokovic improved and discovered his fighting heart. But Sinner continued to serve incredibly well and didn’t allow the Serb a single break point in the entire match. Nevertheless, Djokovic saved himself in the fourth set, also because he was able to fend off a match point in the tiebreak. But Sinner stayed focused, managed the break to make it 3-1 in the fourth set and was unstoppable after that.
