Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic is one victory away from his 10th Australian Open men's singles title and 22nd career Grand Slam crown after ousting surprise American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday in the semifinals in Melbourne.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves to Tommy Paul of the U.S. during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic is one victory away from his 10th Australian Open men’s singles title and 22nd career Grand Slam crown after ousting surprise American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday in the semifinals in Melbourne.
, who knocked off 18th-seeded Karen Khachanov in the other semifinal, on Sunday for the title. If Djokovic beats Tsitsipas, he'll tie Rafael Nadal for the most men's singles titles in Grand Slam history. The 35-year-old Djokovic, who was a massive favorite entering his match with the 25-year-old Paul, had a pretty easy time so far on the court in his return to Melbourne after missing last year's event due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic defeated Roberto Carballes Baena, Enzo Couacaud, No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 22 Alex de Minaur and No. 5 Andrey Rublev, losing only one set along the way, before the semifinal. But Paul wasn't exactly a pushover in this match, especially early, and Djokovic seemed to be hobbled for a big part of it. Paul trailed 1-5 in the first set but won four straight games to tie it 5-5 before eventually losing the set 7-5.received a warning from Tennis Australia on Thursday after his father, Srdjan, was seen on video taking part in a demonstration supporting Russian president Vladimir Putin. His father did not attend Friday's match."I am here to support my son only," Srdjan said in a statement."I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption." Despite that and some injury concerns, nothing seems to be slowing Djokovic, who broke Andre Agassi's Open-era record with his 27th consecutive victory at Melbourne Park with his triumph against Paul in their first-ever meeting. Djokovic has never lost in the Australian Open semifinals, improving to 10-0. But Djokovic may face his toughest test in the final against Tsitsipas, who beat Khachanov 7-6 , 6-4, 6-7 , 6-3 earlier Friday to reach the men's singles final at this Grand Slam for the first time. Tsitsipas had lost in his other three Australian Open semifinal matches. Meanwhile, the magical run finally ended for Paul, who was the first American since 2009 to advance to the Australian Open semifinals. Paul, ranked No. 35 in the world, never advanced past the fourth round in 13 previous Grand Slam events. Paul’s triumphs in Melbourne included a five-set win over No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round, a four-set triumph over No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round and a four-set thriller over another American, Ben Shelton, in the quarterfinals. Paul was among three American men who reached the final eight at the Australian Open, along with Shelton and Sebastian Korda. That hasn't happened since 2000. And despite his loss to Djokovic, Paul will rise into the top 20 in the ATP rankings.First set: Clock discussion nearly costs Djokovic An aggressive Paul had two break points against Djokovic in the first game as both players looked tight, but Djokovic held with back-to-back aces, then easily broke Paul in the second game to take early control. Down 3-0, Paul won an extended rally to start his second service game and added an ace on his way to winning his first game of the match. Two backhand errors by Djokovic made it 0-30 in the next game, which went to deuce. But a backhand winner and Paul's forehand that went long gave Djokovic a 4-1 lead, even though he was struggling a bit. Trailing 0-15 in the next game, Paul hit a beautiful drop shot to counter Djokovic's drop shot. Then at 30-30, a long rally went to Djokovic when Paul couldn't handle an overhead smash, and a long forehand by Paul gave Djokovic a second break and a 5-1 lead.The next game went to deuce before a discussion between Djokovic and the chair umpire over the serve clock. Djokovic complained about how long it takes to get to the towels between serves with the service clock running. That discussion seemed to unnerve Djokovic as Paul won the next two points to break Djokovic and cut the deficit to 5-2, then held at love to make it 5-3. Djokovic, up a break, double faulted to start the next game and faced a double break point. Paul converted the second one after a 30-point rally to make it 5-4. Paul then held serve with a backhand winner to make it 5-5. Djokovic ended Paul's streak in the next game, holding serve with an overhead slam, then at 30-30 in the next game, Paul hit back-to-back unforced errors to give Djokovic the break and the first set 7-5 despite 24 unforced errors from the Serbian star.He just always finds a way! 🇷🇸 looked to be in control, then he was on the back foot, but he closes out the first with a massive break of serve.
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