Image: APA/Paul Crock
The Serbian tennis star made it into the final on Friday with a 7:5,6:1,6:2 victory against the American Tommy Paul. There, the 21-time Grand Slam champion has an impressive series to defend against Stefanos Tsitsipas, having won all of his previous nine finals at Melbourne Park. Tsitsipas defeated Karen Khachanov 7: 6(2), 6: 4, 6: 7(6), 6: 3.
2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021 saw the same winning face at Melbourne Park. The series of three triumphs in a row only came to an end last year because Djokovic was not allowed to take part in the tournament due to his lack of Covid 19 vaccination and being refused entry.
The 35-year-old is all the more motivated this year, even if slight thigh problems are troubling him. They hadn’t stopped him from winning the title at the preparatory tournament in Adelaide.
Agassi left behind
The win against 25-year-old Paul was Djokovic’s 27th consecutive match win at Melbourne Park, making him the sole record holder ahead of American Andre Agassi (26). Against Tsitsipas, it’s not just about expanding this impressive series, as the winner takes the lead in the world rankings. Nothing new for Djokovic, he would act as the industry leader for the first time since June 2022.
“Of course it’s an incentive. Winning a Grand Slam tournament and becoming number one are maybe the coolest things you can achieve at one point in time,” said Djokovic.
Tsitsipas, who is targeting his first Grand Slam title, has never been better than third, a position he would regain if he lost the final. “I like that number. These are the moments I’ve worked so hard for. It’s great not only to be playing for a title, but also to have the opportunity to be at the top of an entire sport’s rankings,” the statement said Tsitsipas.
Ten out of twelve duels went to Djokovic
For the youngest male finalist in Melbourne for twelve years at 24 years and 170 days, there is also a chance for late revenge. In 2021 at the French Open he lost in his only major final against Djokovic after a two-set lead with 7: 6 (2), 6: 2, 3: 6, 2: 6, 4: 6.
In the head-to-head, Djokovic is clearly ahead with 10: 2, he has won the last nine games, including four finals. “It’s never easy against Stefanos, I respect him a lot, he’s improved a lot and he’s also one of the most interesting guys on the tour,” revealed Djokovic.
He started the first duel with Paul confidently and pulled away to 5:1 with a double break. Everything came down to a clear set win, which changed abruptly after a set ball was awarded. The Serb seemed off the mark, was extremely prone to making mistakes and thus offered the American the opportunity to equalize to 5:5. In the decisive phase, the favorite found his game again and converted his second set ball after 59 minutes.
Again without losing a sentence
In the second set, Djokovic managed an early break to make it 2-0 and then, after defending against three breakballs, he was able to increase it to 3-0 in an almost ten-minute game.
This broke the resistance of the first American in the Melbourne semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2009. This time Djokovic used his first chance to finish the set and took the momentum with him. After breaks to 1:0 and 3:0, the preliminary decision in the third round was quickly made.
Djokovic, who was seeded number four, did not lose a set, as he did against Grigor Dimitrov (BUL-27), Alex de Minaur (AUS-22) and Andrej Rublew (RUS-5) and was only on the pitch for 2:20 hours. “I had a bit heavy legs in the first set, in the decisive phase I had my nerves under control and then executed my shots better and pulled them through,” Djokovic summed up. For Paul, who will appear in the top 20 in the ranking from next week, the first major semi-final participation ended without winning a set.
A “Favorite Opponent”
For Tsitsipas, all good things didn’t come in threes, but four. After losing semifinals against Rafael Nadal (2019) and Daniil Medvedev (2021, 2022), the 24-year-old Greek finally made it into the final of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the fourth attempt. The 26-year-old Khachanov remains a “favorite opponent” of the fourth in the world rankings, who has a “clean slate” even after the sixth direct duel.
The two players presented themselves in the first set at eye level. Tsitsipas made two breaks to make it 3: 1 and 5: 3, but the Russian was always able to reply immediately. As a result, the decision had to be made in the tie-break, where Khachanov made too many unforced errors. The second round was also balanced for a long time before Tsitsipas made it 5: 4 with the only break and then served to zero.
In the third set, Chatschanov showed fighting qualities, used his first break chance to make it 5: 5 thanks to a smash by Tsitsipas out and fought his way into the tie-break, where he bravely fended off two match points and then was able to use his first set point. That wasn’t enough for the turnaround, as Tsitsipas was not deterred by the loss of the second set in the tournament and ended the match after 3:21 hours with his fourth match point.
“Years ago I saw Marcos Baghdatis play here in the final and dreamed of making it one day. I’m extremely happy that I’m in the final now,” said Tsitsipas, who clearly had the audience on his side. He wants to do better than the Cypriot Baghdatis in 2006, who lost four sets to Swiss Roger Federer. As at the US Open 2022, Khachanov lost in the semi-finals and missed his first major final, but will advance to 13th position in the ranking.
Source: Nachrichten
