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Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the Australian Open final for the first time, where he will face nine-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Key points:
- Tsitsipas defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3
- The Greek will become world number one if he wins on Sunday night
- Djokovic won the second semifinal with a straight-sets defeat of Tommy Paul
Making his fourth semifinal appearance at Melbourne Park, Tsitsipas squandered match points in the third set, before defeating Russia’s 18th seed Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 after three hours and 21 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Greece’s world number four will play Djokovic after the 21-time major winner defeated unseeded American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.
It will be the second time Tsitsipas and Djokovic have met in the final of a major following the Serb’s epic five-set win in the 2021 French Open decider.
Tsitsipas will become the first Greek player to win a major singles title if he takes out the final, and he will also rise to the world number-one ranking.
He has referred to the Australian Open as his “home slam” in light of the enormous support he receives from Melbourne’s Greek Australian community.
The 24-year-old appreciated being the crowd favourite in Friday’s match, and hoped that would also be the case in the final.
“Coming from a small country like Greece, I’m so grateful that I get support like this,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview.
“I would never have thought that I would be treated so well here, so I’m extremely happy I’m in the final and let’s see what happens.”
Despite Tsitsipas having won all five of his previous matches against Khachanov, the Russian posed a genuine threat after his excellent run to the last four.
It was Khachanov’s second consecutive semifinal at a major and he was justified to back his chances, even though he sits 16 places behind Tsitsipas in 20th spot on the world rankings.
However, Tsitsipas met the challenge and was rewarded for the variety in his game, with solid groundstrokes from the baseline mixed in with successful ventures to the net.
Tsitsipas seemed headed for a regulation straight-sets victory when he served for the match at 5-4 in the third.
At 30-30, he was only two points away from sealing the result, however Khachanov went on to win the game to level the set at 5-5.
After both players each won their next service games, a tie-break followed and it was Tsitsipas who again appeared ready to ice the win when he had two match points at 6-4.
But Khachanov — who has been ranked as high as eight in the world — saved both while winning four consecutive points to claim the set and stay alive in the contest.
The pivotal moment of the fourth set came in the second game, with Khachanov serving.
He surrendered three break points at 0-40 down and although he saved two, Tsitsipas capitalised on the third to lead 2-0.
It was pretty much downhill skiing for Tsitsipas from this point, as he was not threatened on his serve for the remainder of the set to wrap up the win.
Tsitsipas on top early
Earlier in the match, Tsitsipas — who has Australian Mark Philippoussis as part of his team in Melbourne — had seized control of proceedings in the fourth game of the first set when he broke Khachanov to establish a 3-1 lead.
But he dropped serve in the following game, allowing Khachanov back in the set.
Tsitsipas pulled off another service break in the eighth game to lead 5-3, but again Khachanov immediately broke back when his opponent was serving for the first set.
The set was eventually decided by a tie-break, with Khachanov finding himself on the back foot when he trailed 1-6 to hand Tsitsipas five set points.
He saved one, but Tsitsipas would not be denied and converted on his second set point after almost an hour on court.
Neither player gave an inch for much of the second set, although Tsitsipas had three break points in the third game, which he failed to convert.
But at 4-4 — with games on serve — Tsitsipas edged ahead when he broke Khachanov, the moment met by wild applause from the crowd.
Tsitsipas served out the set to love, before Khachanov fought back to win the third in a tie-break.
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