Melbourne, Jan 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Jannik Sinner recorded a dominant win against 10-time champion Novak Djokovic to reach his first Grand Slam final, scuttling Serbian's bid for a record-extending 11th Australian Open in the semifinals on Friday.
The youngest man to reach a final at Melbourne Park since 2008, the 22-year-old Italian registered a stunning 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6-8), 6-3 triumph at Rod Laver Arena, ending Djokovic's 33-match Melbourne winning streak and handing him his first Australian Open defeat since 2018.
"It was a very, very tough match. I started off really well. 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 also for the next set, which I started off really well. And obviously the atmosphere was so great to play here," Sinner said in his on-court interview.
Only sixth months ago, world No.1 Djokovic had few difficulties keeping the Italian contained in the Wimbledon semifinals, but a pair of confidence-boosting wins from three subsequent encounters had invigorated Sinner’s belief, AusOpen reports.
In just his second Grand Slam semifinal, Sinner paid no attention to precedent and after three hours and 23 minutes handed Djokovic his first loss against a top-five opponent at Melbourne Park since the Serb fell to Roger Federer in the fourth round in 2007.
Sinner will meet either third seed Daniil Medvedev or sixth seed Alexander Zverev for his maiden major trophy on Sunday.
"The confidence from the end of last year has for sure kept the belief that I can play against the best players in the world. I'm really happy that I can play Sunday my first final. Let's see how it goes. But I'm really happy, I'll come here with a smile and I'll try my best," the Italian said.
Despite the defeat, Djokovic will remain No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. Sinner could rise to a career-high of No. 3 if he wins his first major title and Daniil Medvedev loses to Alexander Zverev in Friday's second semifinal.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz