Serbian Novak Djokovic, number one in the world, failed to defend his Australian Open title by losing this Friday in the semi-finals to Italian Jannik Sinner in four sets.
In the seventh meeting between the two tennis players, Sinner, fourth in the ATP rankings, won the first two ends by 1-6, 2-6, at the tournament’s main stadium, Rod Laver Arena.
Related
The 36-year-old Serbian, who was on a 33-match winning streak at Melbourne Park, responded by taking the third set 7-6 (8-6).
But the 22-year-old Italian, who had already defeated Djokovic on two occasions in the final stretch of last season, in the group stage of the ATP Finals and in the Davis Cup, closed the match in three hours and 22 minutes by winning the fourth quarter by 3 -6.
The Serbian thus missed out on his 11th victory in the first ‘major’ of the season, something that would have allowed him to equal Margaret Court’s record.
Sinner, who is still looking for his first victory in a Grand Slam tournament, will face in the final, on Sunday, the winner of the match between Russian Daniil Medvedev, third in the world, and German Alexander Zverev, sixth in the ATP rankings.