Sinner Beats Djokovic to Set Up Showdown With Medvedev

Jannik Sinner is into the first major final of his career after toppling defending champion and top-seed Novak Djokovic on Friday. Sinner knocked off the 10-time tournament champion 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 in the Australian Open semifinals to continue his run Down Under.

“I was looking forward to this match,” said Sinner. “It’s always nice to have this kind of player who you can learn from. I lost last year in the semis in Wimbledon, so I think I learned a lot from that. It’s all part of the process.”

One of the things he learned from that semifinal was to make sure to get off to a fast start against Djokovic, and that’s just what he did on Friday. He bookended both the first and second sets with breaks of serve, and didn’t face a single break point on his own serve during those first two sets. 

In the third, Djokovic saved a break point early on and neither player made any headway on the other’s serve to send the third set into a tiebreak. Djokovic won a major tiebreak for the 21st time in his last 23 tries to force a fourth set, but that is where the comeback fizzled out. 

Sinner secured the decisive break for a 3-1 advantage in the fourth and never looked back. Serving for the match at 5-3, Sinner ripped his 31st winner with a forehand on match point to seal his victory. 

“It was a very, very tough match. I started off really well,” said Sinner. “For two sets, I felt like he was not feeling that great on court so I just tried to keep pushing. Then in the third set I had match point, and I missed the forehand, but this is tennis. I just tried to be ready for the next set, which I started off really well. And obviously, the atmosphere was so great to play here.”

Standing in the way of his first major title is Russia’s Daniil Medvedev who should be dubbed the comeback kid for his performance thus far in Australia. Medvedev once again won a five-set match, his third this fortnight, and came back from two-sets-down to beat Alexander Zverev 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 6-3 to advance to the third Australian Open championship of his career.

“First set honestly I think we both didn’t play that good,” said Medvedev. “The second set I thought I played a bit better than the first set. He played very well, 6-3, two breaks, I didn’t have chances on his serve. I was a little bit lost but during the third set I said if I was going to lose this match I was going to be proud of myself. I want to fight until the end and if I lose I lose and I managed to win and I am very proud.’

Medvedev now seeks his second major title (2021 U.S. Open) as he competes in the fourth major final of his career. He leads the head-to-head matchup with Sinner 6-3, but Sinner has won the last three meetings between the two. 

“Impressive,” Medvedev said of Sinner’s win over Djokovic. “Beat Novak, who was 10-0 in the semifinals on these courts, so very impressive. I need to recover well and be 100 percent on Sunday.”