MELBOURNE, Australia – Novak Djokovic finally defeated one of the two men blocking his path to an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title when he defeated Jannik Sinner in five sets on Friday to reach the final of the Australian Open.
To reach that coveted number 25, he will then have to beat the other: Carlos Alcaraz, the highest ranked.
They are both chasing history in Sunday’s championship decider, with 22-year-old Alcaraz aiming to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.
The best-ranked Alcaraz also had to endure a grueling five-setter. He fended off No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a match that started in the heat of the afternoon on Friday and became the Australian Open’s longest ever semi-final five hours and 27 minutes later.
That pushed back the start of Djokovic’s match against Sinner by a few hours, and the 38-year-old Djokovic ultimately finished just after 1:30 with a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
“It feels surreal,” Djokovic said of his four-hour, nine-minute win. “Honestly, it already feels like winning tonight. I know I have to come back… and fight the No. 1 in the world. I just hope I have enough gas to stay with him.”
“That is my desire. Let God decide the winner.”
Djokovic was at the peak of his defensive powers, fending off 16 of the 18 break points he faced against the two-time defending Australian Open champion. It ended a run of five defeats against Sinner, and a run of four semi-finals for Djokovic at the majors.
“I had a lot of opportunities but couldn’t take them, and that’s the outcome,” Sinner said. “Yes, it definitely hurts.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the last eight major titles between them since Djokovic won his last title at the 2023 US Open.
No one knows how to win more at Melbourne Park than Djokovic. He has won all ten times he has played in the Australian Open final.
He said he saw Alcaraz after the first of the semi-finals was over and congratulated him on reaching his first final at Melbourne Park.
“He said sorry for the postponement,” Djokovic explained later. “I told him, ‘I’m an old man, I should go to sleep earlier!’
Djokovic, who was aiming to be the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title, was held up late.
“I’m looking forward to meeting him on Sunday,” he said.
As the top four seeds reached the men’s Australian Open semifinals for the fifth time, Day 13 was destined to provide some drama. The season-opening major had been relatively slow, until the back-to-back five-setters lasted a combined 9 hours and 36 minutes.
Alcaraz and Zverev, the 2025 runners-up, surpassed the 2009 classic between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco as the longest ever Australian Open semi-final.
Alcaraz was just two points away from victory in the third set, but was hampered by pain in his right thigh and his medical timeout was disputed.
He said it didn’t feel like a cramp at first because the pain seemed to be in only one muscle, the right adductor, and that he needed an examination.
He navigated through the third and fourth sets and found himself behind in the fifth after dropping serve in the first game. He kept up the pressure, but only broke back when Zverev served for the match. He then won the last four games.
“I think we pushed each other to the limit physically today. We pushed our bodies to the limit,” Alcaraz said. “I’m just really happy with the win, that I came back. I just rank this up there as one of the best matches I’ve ever won.”
When asked how he was able to recover despite being so close to defeat, Alcaraz admitted he struggled but said he “kept believing, believing all the time.”
“I’ve been in situations like this, I’ve played in games like this before, so I knew what to do,” he said. “I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it. I fought until the last ball.”
Zverev was demonstrably angry about the timeout in the third set and was speaking to a tournament official when his rival was given a three-minute break for treatment and a leg massage.
After the match he insisted he didn’t think this was right, but he also didn’t think it would overshadow the match.
“I don’t want to talk about this now because I think this is one of the best fights that has ever happened in Australia,” he said. “It doesn’t deserve to be the topic now.”
#Alcaraz #Djokovic #meet #Australian #Open #final #epic #semifinal #victories