The second semi-final in the Australian Championship is taking place at this time and brings together the great favorite to win, Novak Djokovic, and Tommy Paul, the surprising American who dreams of overwhelming his role model.
The Serbian joker is in excellent form and lost only one set throughout the tournament in Melbourne. In the quarter-finals he beat Andrey Rublev and now he is trying to take another step towards a tenth win in Australia, but more importantly – to equal Rafael Nadal at the top of the Grand Slam titles with 22 CAs.
Novak hopes to close a circle in a perfect way after last year he was expelled from Australia in disgrace due to his lack of vaccination. As mentioned, the 35-year-old Serbian faces an American ranked 35th in the world, who is currently having an outstanding tournament and in the previous stage beat the surprising Ben Shelton in the American Derby.
For Paul, this is of course the highest achievement in his career, and if he succeeds in beating the Serbian, it will be a huge sensation. By the way, Djokovic never lost in Australia in the semifinals and finals, every time he reached the last four in Melbourne he also finished with the shiny trophy in hand.
First set: 5:7 for Novak Djokovic
Paul brought a fight already in the first game and even led 15:30 and 30:40 even though Djokovic served, but in the end the Serbian came to his senses and went up to 0:1 thanks to two aces, when immediately he also broke the American for the first time and went up to 0 : 2 fast. Less than 14 minutes on the game clock, and the joker has already gone up 0:3. After some great rallies, the 35th ranked got on the board as he narrowed to 3:1. Paul led in the second game 0:30, but again Nola’s serves made the difference and he went up 1:4.
After an uncommitted error by the American, the Serbian got another break to serve for the first set, but Paul surprised and got a break of his own to shrink, while also holding his serve, 5:3. Stunning. At the end of a very long rally, Paul recorded another break and returned to the game in a big way, who immediately kept his serves and equalized at 5:5! On the other side, Nola served great and went up 5:6. The Serbian recovered in time and got another break to win the set.
Second set: 1:6 to Novak Djokovic
The Serbian served first in the set and kept the serve on the way to 0:1, when he immediately added the first break in the set and his fourth overall in the match, on the way to 0:2. After a ten-minute game and even though Paul had three break points, Djokovic managed to get out of it and rise to 0:3 and immediately after that to record a break again and set 0:4. Nola recorded a seventh game in a row to go 0:5 while winning the last one for zero. The ranked 35 did stop the streak and shrink to 5:1, but immediately lost the next in line and allowed Nola to double the advantage.
Act three
First game, first break. Djokovic went up 0:1 after Paul’s serve.