Against quite long expectations, another A Grand Slam semi-final between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic is scheduled for Friday evening at the Australian Open.
Sinner looked close to retirement in his third round match against Eliot Spizzirri before receiving divine intervention from a roof lock. Djokovic was awarded a fourth-round walkover by Jakub Mensik and was heading to Melbourne in the quarter-finals before Lorenzo Musetti retired with a groin injury while leading two sets to love.
The end result is an eleventh meeting between Sinner and Djokovic – and their fifth in the major semi-final. Sinner leads the head-to-head series by a slim 6-4 margin, but he has won six of their last seven meetings and five in a row. They faced each other twice last season, when the Italian won 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3) at Roland Garros and 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 at Wimbledon.
Even at a tournament he has won ten times, it is difficult – almost impossible even – to see Djokovic turn the tide. The 38-year-old played well enough in successive defeats to Pedro Martinez, Francesco Maestrelli and Botic van de Zandschulp, but he was thoroughly outclassed by Musetti on Wednesday. A foot blister certainly doesn’t help Djokovic.
Now the 24-time slam champion must face an even stronger opponent – and that’s an understatement – in Sinner. Apart from being saved by the heat rule during the cramp against Spizzirri, the world number 2 has been rolling in Melbourne so far. His other results were all straight-setters (against Hugo Gaston, James Duckworth, Luciano Darderi and Ben Shelton). Sinner is on a 19-match winning streak at Melbourne Park and is 38-3 in his last 41 sets dating back to the 2024 final against Daniil Medvedev.
Anything that comes close to a top version of Sinner is and remains too good for Djokovic. Unless voodoo spells are cast on all of the Serb’s opponents this fortnight, this should be a defeat of epic proportions – even by recent Sinner versus Djokovic standards.
Choice: sinner in 3
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