Jannik Sinner breaks longstanding Djokovic record as he becomes youngest Australian Open finalist
Australian Open/TwitterJannik Sinner stopped Novak Djokovic from reaching the Australian Open Final and winning his 11th title as the Italian beat him 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 in the semi-final.
Novak Djokovic hoped to cruise into the Australian Open Final on January 26 as he faced 22-year-old Jannik Sinner in their semi-final match-up.
Djokovic had a shaky start to the tournament, dropping a set in each of his first and second-round matches, but regained form to dispatch a heating-up Adrian Mannarino who was coming off the back of multiple five-set victories to make it into the quarter-finals.
The Serbian held a record for always winning the Australian Open title once he reached the quarter-finals, and it appeared he would maintain that streak as he beat Taylor Fritz 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Semi-Finals.
However, Sinner came into the match with a bold strategy and hit Djokovic off the court to break the Serb’s longstanding streak.
Jannik Sinner dominates Djokovic in Australian Open Semi-Final
Sinner came into the match with a bold and headstrong strategy and utilized his raw power on his groundstrokes to force Djokovic to play from deep behind his own baseline.
Djokovic couldn’t find an answer to Sinner’s brutal hitting in the first two sets but managed to regain composure and use some crafty net play to secure the third set 7-6 (8-6).
However, Sinner maintained composure to continue his gutsy ball-striking, claiming the final set 6-3 and ending Djokovic’s record.
“It was a very tough match,” Sinner said in the post-match interview. “For two sets I felt like he wasn’t 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 you know, this is tennis.”
He went on to credit his win to the experience of losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2023 semi-finals, claiming he learned a lot from the match.
Looking at the potential Australian Open Final opponents of either Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev, the Italian said: “They are such incredible players […] and we will see what’s coming on Sunday”.
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