Daniil Medvedev demolished Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight-sets to reach his first Australian Open final, where he will face eight-time champion Novak Djokovic.
The Russian fourth seed, destroyed the 22-year-old Greek in a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 victory, making it 20 wins in a row, and 11 against Top 10 players.
The World No.6 claimed the lion’s share of the support, with Greek flags hanged throughout the stadium, but Medvedev silenced the raucous crowd, slamming down 17 aces and breaking his opponents serve five times.
The 25-year-old will face Djokovic on Sunday in his second appearance in a major final, having lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 US Open final.
Medvedev said: “That was my first Grand Slam final, against one of the greats. Sunday I am going to come up against another great.
“It’s Djokovic who has all the pressure. I just hope that I’m going to get out there and play my best tennis. He has more experience but more to lose.”
Djokovic won in straight sets against Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday morning.
Elsewhere, the men’s doubles semi-final saw a battle between two Brits, as Putney’s Joe Salisbury, 28, and American Rajeev Ram, 36, beat Jamie Murray, 35, and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, 38, 6-4, 7-6.
Salisbury and Ram will now face Slovakia’s Filip Polášek, 35, and Croat Ivan Dodig, 36, in Sunday’s final.
But there was less joy for Salisbury in the mixed doubles, as he and 27-year-old American Desirae Krawczyk were knocked out by Samantha Stosur, 36, and Matthew Ebden, 33, in a dramatic semi-final, 7-5, 5-7, 10-8.
If the pair beat Ram and Barbora Krejcikova, 25, of the Czech Republic, Stosur will claim her first Australian Open mixed doubles title since 2005.
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Feature Picture Credit: Rob Keating via Creative Commons license
