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MELBOURNE, Australia — No one has ever been better in this Australian Open final than Novak Djokovicthe 10-time champion.
Every time he won the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, as he did against taylor fritz on Tuesday, he won the title.
The odds are usually against their opponent in the semi-finals. Maybe even more so against the fourth seed. Sinner Jannikwho beat No. 5 in the quarterfinals Andrei Rublev that didn’t start until 10:42 pm and didn’t end until 1:21 am Wednesday.
Djokovic reached his record-extending 48th Grand Slam semi-final, beating Fritz 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 3¾ hours. His match began in the late afternoon because the US Open champion Coco GauffThe previous victory of Marta Kostyuk It took more than three hours.
In an on-field interview with an Australian player Nick Kyrgioswho has been sidelined by a long-term injury, Djokovic made a lighthearted joke about buying popcorn and watching Sinner vs. Rublev on late night television.
Djokovic later said Sinner’s late finish would not be a factor in Friday’s semifinals.
“What kind of advantage will I have? We have two days. It’s not a big advantage I see there,” he said. “There’s plenty of time for whoever wins tonight’s game to recover.”
The start of the night session was delayed until after 9:00 pm and could have been very, very late if not for the reigning women’s champion. Aryna Sabalenka and Sinner, both winning in straight sets.
Sinner trailed 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker before winning six points in a row, starting with a stunning crosscourt forehand, to regain momentum and take the match 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
“I want to thank everyone for staying so long,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “It’s always a great pleasure to play here on this court. It doesn’t really matter what time it is.”
Since losing to Djokovic in last year’s Wimbledon semifinals, Sinner has won two of his three matches against the 24-time major champion.
“I’m very lucky to face him again. [in] One of the most important tournaments in the world,” he said. “Happy to be able to play against the number one in the world. He won here sometimes!”
Sinner has yet to lose a set.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has spent more time on court in five rounds than ever at Melbourne Park (more than 15 hours), but believes he is still improving. He is on a 33-match winning streak at the Australian Open, a tournament record he shares with his childhood inspiration, Monica Seles.
The first match lasted 16 minutes and the first set lasted 1 hour and 24 minutes. Fritz got the first break of serve and held it to win the second set.
“You have to give him credit for playing really well. You could see he had a clear game plan. He was really clever,” Djokovic said. “So it was definitely a struggle for me to play the first two sets.
“In the third, things started to click. I wasn’t serving well in the first two sets, and then in the third and fourth, great.”
Fritz saved the first 15 break points he faced, an impressive statistic against one of the best returners in history.
“My conversion was really poor, but at the end of the day I managed to break it when I needed to,” Djokovic said.
The first match set the tone for a long and tough match. It contained 24 points, going two nine times.
Then followed the longest first set of the tournament. In the tiebreak, Djokovic finished a 21-shot rally with a stunning crosscourt backhand for five set points. He put his finger to his ear, nodded and blew a kiss toward a commentary box at the back of the court.
After two tight sets, Fritz lost his serve in the second game of the third as Djokovic converted his 16th chance. Djokovic broke again, at love, in the ninth game to close the third.
In the fourth, there was an exchange of breaks until Djokovic served from 5-3 to improve to 9-0 against Fritz in their head-to-head matches.
Fritz said he felt sorry for Sinner and Rublev, and that the tournament schedule had come up in the locker room afterward. Daniil MedvedevThe second round match didn’t start until after 11 p.m. and didn’t end until almost 4 a.m. He said that with physio, treatment and conclusion, it takes hours after the game to fall asleep.
“This… just ruins your whole watch,” Fritz said. “I pray for those guys.”
Sinner said there were advantages to playing late, such as the time for fans to watch the broadcast in Italy.
“In my mind I knew that if I win I have two days off, that even if you finish very late, you can recover,” he said. “But you don’t look at the clock right now!”
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