MELBOURNE.- An earthquake shook Melbourne this Friday: Jannik Sinner ended the record streak of 33 consecutive victories at the Open Australia by Novak Djokovic, truncating the Serbian’s attempt to win an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam. He will play the final against Daniil Medvedev.
The Italian, world number four, won the semifinal 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 against number one Djokovic, ten titles in Australia, which had never lost a final or semifinal.
Sinner, 22, will play his first grand final on Sunday against Medvedev (N.3), who was able to come back from two sets against Alexander Zverev (N.6); 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5) and 6-3.
“It was a very tough game,” Sinner said. “I started very well. He failed in the first two sets. I felt that he was not very well on the court, so I tried to keep pushing.”
Djokovic, who had not known defeat in this tournament since 2018, was aiming to break his record with a 25th Grand Slam title, but Sinner destroyed the script without giving him a single break ball.
“He completely dominated me today. I was surprised by my level in the negative sense. There was almost nothing I did well in the first two sets. I think it is one of the worst matches I have played in a Grand Slam,” analyzed ‘Djoko’ in the room. of press.
The 36-year-old Serbian succumbed to Sinner’s tennis and committed 29 unforced errors during the first two sets, compared to the Italian’s eight.
The veteran lacked his usual metronomic consistency, while the focused Sinner took a 3-0 lead heading into the first set.
The decibels on Center Court rose at the start of the second and Djokovic seemed to have composed himself, but the error count continued to climb.
Djokovic urged the crowd to support him and chants of “Nole!” resounded in the packed stadium, but his opponent broke his serve again and he was two sets behind.
The veteran found sensations in the third round, with a Sinner who did not take advantage of his first match point.
But it was not ‘Nole’ day and an hour later Sinner cold-bloodedly certified a possible change of era at Melbourne Park.
“I didn’t feel like myself on the court throughout the entire tournament, I didn’t get close to my best tennis. I just hope that I have the opportunity to come back, at least again,” Djokovic said goodbye at a press conference.
– The Seven Lives of Medvedev –
In the night session Medvedev and Zverev gave a marathon that went to the former’s side in four hours and 18 minutes.
Qualification seemed far away for the Russian of a thousand lives when he committed a double fault in the tie-break of the fourth set that left Zverev two points away from his first final in Melbourne.
But the German trembled and Medvedev accelerated to equalize 2-2 after having had no options in the face of the seamless play in the first two sets of the tennis player who eliminated Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round.
After falling in two consecutive tie-breaks, the emotional blow was too hard for Zverev, who was inferior in the decisive set.
“I was a little lost and in the third set I told myself, ‘I at least want to be proud of myself and if I lose I will fight to the end in every match,'” Medvedev said on court.
“I felt physically tired, but I told myself that I had to be more aggressive, if it didn’t work, I would have tried it. It worked, I started hitting better shots and serving better,” added the 27-year-old tennis player, lost two finals in Melbourne, 2021 against Djokovic and 2022 against Rafael Nadal.
Source: With information from AFP
