ITALIAN Jannik Sinner booked his place in the Australian Open semi-finals after sentencing opponent Andrey Rublev to a 10th Grand Slam quarter finals loss. The world number four matched his performance from Wimbledon last year where he reached the final four, and will take on the same opponent in Novak Djokovic in a bid to reach a maiden major final.

Despite the day’s play running overtime, Sinner was quick to make sure he was not out until the early hours of the next morning, capitalising on Rublev’s gruelling fourth round victory over Alex de Minaur a couple of nights prior to post a straight sets win, albeit in two hours and 39 minutes.

“It’s obviously very tough to play against him,” Sinner said post-match. “We had some very tough matches already in the past and today was three sets, but I could have lost. The first set he had so many break points and I somehow served really well on them. Everything goes so fast, it’s more a reaction and trying to move him a little bit more than [he moves me].”

Sinner was running hot from the start, only dropping seven points off his serve in the opening set, and playing an economical game that featured only the five winners, but also only five unforced errors. He only had the one break point, but he took it, and it was enough – as he saved two break points on his own serve – to secure the all-important opening set 6-4.

After playing more conservative in the first set, the Italian took his game to another level in the second to try and match the power coming from the other side of the net. He served six aces among 19 winners to outhit Rublev, though neither player could capitalise off the combined nine break points in the set.

In the deciding tiebreak, Sinner hit a brilliant forehand winner at 5-5 to bring up set point, and then after a Rublev backhand error, went two-up in the match and was well settled in to reach a second Grand Slam semi from his past three tournaments.

There was not much to split Sinner and Rublev in the third set, with the Italian hitting one more winner (10-9) but also four more unforced errors (9-5) in what was an entertaining contest. The pivotal moment came in the sixth game with Rublev serving at 2-3. After being 40-15 up, the Russian lost his way with Sinner’s sublime ball placement forcing errors out of the fifth seed.

A remarkable three consecutive forced errors from the Russian’s racquet resulted in the first break point opportunity of the set, and Sinner took it with a brilliant forehand winner. That led the fourth seed to go 4-2 up, and considering he was yet to be broken, all signs were pointing to a victory.

Though Rublev kept fighting to the end – and Sinner had a momentary stumble with a double fault two games later to make it 30-30 at 5-3 – he regained his composure and strength to hit back-to-back forehand winners, closing out the match 6-4 7-6 6-3 in two hours and 39 minutes.

Sinner is the only player remaining in the men’s singles draw to have not dropped a set at this year’s Australian Open, winning an impressive 15 straight sets and dispatching of each opponent that came his way. The 22-year-old is yet to reach a Grand Slam final, but now is just one win away.

He needs to find a way to break Djokovic’s 10-0 record in Australian Open semi-finals, with the Serbian world number one winning a title each time he has made a Melbourne Park final four. Sinner said he was looking forward to the challenge.

“I’m really lucky to face him again,” he said. “This is one of the biggest tournaments in the world. I’m happy I can play against the No. 1 in the world. He won here [10] times, so it’s going to be tough. The only thing that I can control is I will give 100 per cent, I will fight for every ball and then we will see what the outcome will be.”

Novak takes out Taylor after early struggle

WORLD number one Novak Djokovic is into yet another Australian Open semi-final after defeating Taylor Fritz in a hard-earned four-set victory on Rod Laver Arena. The Serbian 10-time tournament champion is yet to lose from reaching a Melbourne Park semi-final, and while it has not been smooth sailing throughout the 2024 edition, he was able to put away the 12th seed, 7-6 4-6 6-2 6-3.

Incredibly, the first game alone went 24 points and 16 minutes as Fritz finally held his opening service. Djokovic on the other hand came out and ominously broke to love, hitting two backhand winners and an ace. While largely looking in control on serve, the Serbian world number one struggled to capitalise when presented with break point opportunities.

For the first time in his illustrious career, Djokovic failed to convert any of his first 15 break points with an 0-8 record in the first set, and 0-7 equivalent in the second set. Luckily Djokovic’s strength in tiebreakers came to the fore to close out the first set 7-6, before Fritz levelled the match with a 6-4 second set thanks to a crucial break in the opening game of that set.

“I suffered a lot in the first couple of sets, also due to his high-quality tennis,” Djokovic said post-match. “He was serving well, he was staying close to the line, he was kind of suffocating me from the back of the court. I was [playing] most of the rallies on my back foot. It was really difficult to find the right timing. It was extremely hot while the sun was still out there. Physically very draining, emotionally as well.”

Unfortunately for the American, Djokovic found the extra gear to go to once challenged, serving an impeccable seven aces to nil in the third set, and only dropping four points off his serve in a sublime domination. By comparison, Fritz’s serve lived up to his name, with it failing him at a 45 per cent efficiency and only winning three of nine off his powerful first serve.

Djokovic’s numbers in the third set looked like that of a man who had been there and done it before, smashing 14 winners to only one unforced error, and finally capitalising on break point point chances with two breaks while not facing one himself.

Despite Fritz regaining some momentum in the fourth – hitting three more winners (13-10) and lifting his first serve percentage to 68 per cent – Djokovic was unrelenting, again only dropping eight points off his serve, and giving the American few free points.

Though Fritz was still able to break once to get back on serve in the seventh game, he was broken to love the very next game – ending on a double fault – before the world number one served out the match for a 7-6 4-6 6-2 6-3 victory in three hours and 45 minutes.

“I knew the kind of threat he poses when he serves on such a high quality,” Djokovic said of Fritz.

“Conversion of the break points was really poor. I saw it was four from 21 today. I think at the end of the day I managed to break him when it mattered in the third and the fourth.

“I think I upped my game probably midway through the third set all the way to the end. I served extremely well. I think I had probably even more aces than he did, which is a surprise stat, but it helped a lot in this kind of match-up.”