The first semi-final Australian Open The winner was the young Italian Jannik Sinner (4), who defeated the Serbian in four sets. Novak Djokovic, number one in the ATP world ranking. Later they will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev (3) with the German Alexander Zverev (6) in search of the other place in the final of the first Major of the year.
The 36-year-old Balkan arrived as the main candidate for the crown, first of all because of his love affair with the slopes of Melbourne Park, where he won the title on ten occasionsas well as for having recovered the good feelings in his two previous matches, once morest the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and the American Taylor Fritz (13).
However, I knew that I didn’t have it easy at all. In front of him was Sinnet, who finished the last season in the best possible way: lifting the Davis Cup title with Italy following beat Djokovic in the semifinals. In addition, he was the only tennis player who had not lost a set in Melbourne. He just gave up one once morest Djokovic and it was a tie-break.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion began suffering at the Rod Laver Arena. Without going any further, the Italian demonstrated his superiority from the beginning and He took the first two sets with authority: 6-1 and 6-2.
Sinner and Djokovic meet once more in Australia. REUTERS/Issei Kato
In the third set, the Serbian fought until the end and managed to win the tie-break. However, all it did was delay his imminent defeat. Sinner took the fourth set 6-3 and, in this way, achieved a pass to the grand final.
The record between the two is still favorable for Djokovic, with four wins and three losses. Nevertheless, Sinner took three of the last four battles.
The other semi will also be a ‘heavy’ duel
Zverev and Medvedev following the final they played in Turin, in 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
On the other side of the four, Medvedev and Zverev They will face each other for the first time in competition ‘major’despite the fact that they saw each other 18 times.
The Russian has a favorable head-to-head 11-7 and lately he was infallible once morest the German, following winning five of the six matches they had during 2023.
Both tennis players will need a great serve and risk more than necessary to avoid putting a strain on a physique damaged by the two five-set matches that each had in previous rounds.
The Muscovite scored the victory in the final round once morest the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori and the Polish Hubert Hurkacz (9), while the German did the same once morest the Slovakian Lukas Klein and the British Cameron Norrie (19).
Medvedev might get the ticket for what would be his third final at the Australian Open and Zverev might become the third German, behind his compatriots Boris Becker and Rainer Schuettler, to reach the final on the banks of the Yarra River.
The second men’s semifinal is scheduled for this Friday at 05:30 (Argentina time).
