A new king of Melbourne will be crowned at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, as Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev prepare for a titanic battle in the Australian Open men's singles final.
Sinner ended Novak Djokovic's dominant streak Down Under to make his first major final, while Medvedev incredibly fought back from two sets down to eliminate Alexander Zverev.
Match preview
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Enough pages of tennis history were written to fill a small book during Sinner's semi-final showdown with 10-time and reigning champion Djokovic on Friday morning, where the Italian wowed the Rod Laver crowd with a supreme display, all the while Djokovic's golden touch eluded him.
In three hours and 22 minutes, Sinner capped off the performance of his embryonic career with a 6-1 6-2 6-7[6] 6-3 win, thereby becoming the first-ever Italian singles player to reach the Australian Open final, and only the third man from his nation to reach a Grand Slam showpiece.
While Djokovic was left to bemoan one of his self-confessed "worst" displays at a major tournament to date - the world number one committed a whopping 54 unforced errors and four double faults - Sinner dazzled with an exemplary all-around game, denying Djokovic a single chance to break in the semi-final.
The 22-year-old - who is also the youngest man in 16 years to reach the Australian Open final since Djokovic himself in 2008 - was near-impenetrable behind his first serve too, winning 83% of such points and also boasting an identical win rate at the net to inflict Djokovic's first-ever Melbourne semi-final exit upon him.
Now entering unchartered territory in his inaugural major final, Sinner - who was an ATP Finals finalist in 2023, only to fall to Djokovic's superiority on that occasion - is bidding to win career title number 11 on Sunday, but he will have to go through one of the ATP Tour's hard-court aficionados to do it.
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The 19th top-level meeting between Medvedev and Zverev was an engrossing battle from start to finish on Friday night, and the former's error-strewn early display would ostensibly put paid to his hopes of Australian Open stardom, but victory would soon be snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Forever recognisable on the court with his enviable reach and fascinating approach of receiving way behind the baseline - which he abandoned late on in the semi-final - Medvedev's tactical nous won out in a marathon encounter, as the third seed came up trumps 5-7 3-6 7-6[4] 7-6[5] 6-3 in four hours and 18 minutes.
Only 60% of Medvedev's first serves found the mark on Friday, where the former US Open champion also registered an unsightly six double faults, but he eventually managed to work Zverev's aggression to his advantage, as the German racked up 70 unforced errors en route to more semi-final disappointment.
The Russian third seed now endeavours to make it third time lucky in the Australian Open final, having been forced to accept the runners-up prize against Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022, but all six of his Grand Slam finals would have now been contested on the hard court.
Whether such specialities come to the fore on Sunday is another question entirely, though, as Sinner's beating of Djokovic marked the first match of the 2024 Australian Open in which the Italian failed to win in straight sets. For a jelly-legged Medvedev, five of his six contests Down Under have gone to at least four sets.
Tournament so far
Jannik Sinner:
First round: vs. Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 7-5 6-3
Second round: vs. Jesper de Jong 6-2 6-2 6-2
Third round: vs. Sebastian Baez 6-0 6-1 6-3
Round of 16: vs. Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-5 6-3
Quarter-final: vs. Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-6[5] 6-3
Semi-final: vs. Novak Djokovic 6-1 6-2 6-7[6] 6-3
Daniil Medvedev:
First round: vs. Terenc Atmane 5-7 6-2 6-4 1-0 ret.
Second round: vs. Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6 6-7[1] 6-4 7-6[1] 6-0
Third round: vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4 6-3
Round of 16: vs. Nuno Borges 6-3 7-6[4] 5-7 6-1
Quarter-final: vs. Hubert Hurkacz 7-6[4] 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4
Semi-final: vs. Alexander Zverev 5-7 3-6 7-6[4] 7-6[5] 6-3
Head To Head
ATP Finals (2023) - Semi-final: Sinner wins 6-3 6-7[4] 6-1
Vienna Open (2023) - Final: Sinner wins 7-6[7] 4-6 6-3
China Open (2023) - Final: Sinner wins 7-6[2] 7-6[2]
Miami Open (2023) - Final: Medvedev wins 7-5 6-3
Rotterdam Open (2023) - Final: Medvedev wins 5-7 6-2 6-2
Vienna Open (2022) - Quarter-final: Medvedev wins 6-4 6-2
ATP Finals (2021) - Round-robin: Medvedev wins 6-0 6-7[5] 7-6[8]
Open 13 (2021) - Quarter-final: Medvedev wins 6-2 6-4
Open 13 (2020) - Last 16: Medvedev wins 1-6 6-1 6-2
The Rod Laver stage is set for a mouthwatering 10th meeting between Sinner and Medvedev on Sunday, and the Russian currently holds the head-head bragging rights, boasting six victories compared to a trio of wins for the first-time finalist.
However, each of Sinner's three triumphs over Medvedev have come in their last three meetings, as the Italian prevailed in the semi-finals of the 2023 ATP Finals after also winning in the Vienna Open and China Open finals, prior to which Medvedev defeated his youthful foe with the Miami and Rotterdam titles on the line.
Interestingly, all nine of Sinner and Medvedev's top-level battles so far have been fought on hard courts, and while the latter has come up clutch in most of his Australian Open tie-breakers this year, he has only won two of his six such scraps with his upcoming opponent.
We say: Sinner to win in five sets
While Djokovic will eventually be forced to relinquish his grip on the Australian Open trophy, it should not come until Sinner and Medvedev have left it all out on the court in a five-set slog, especially if the latter's comeback powers and hard-surface prowess come out to play on Sunday.
However, the Russian's gruelling encounters of the past couple of weeks may finally catch up to him, and with Sinner in absolutely wonderful form - both behind his own serve and as the returner - we believe that the trailblazing Italian will wear down Medvedev's dogged defence to lift his first Grand Slam trophy.
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Ben Knapton
