Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the last four of the Australian Open for the third time in his career after producing a dominant win over Jannik Sinner on Rod Laver Arena.
The world No.4 was in impressive form throughout his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, win over the world No.10 who was bidding to become the youngest player to reach the semi-finals at Melbourne since 2003. Tsitsipas maintained the upper hand with the help of a dominant service performance where he won 73% of points, as well as hitting 30 winners. The latest win is his 15th at the Australian Open which makes the tournament his joint-first most successful Grand Slam event in terms of match wins along with the French Open.
“I think my humility helped a lot today. I knew I was going on the court facing a very good player. I tried to focus on my best shots and it kind of paid off more than I thought,” Tsitsipas said during his on-court interview.
“I’m very happy with the way that I served today, the way I tried to come in and use the tactics. Stepping onto the court and having the crowd support is truly unbelievable.”
The showdown was new territory in the Tsitsipas-Sinner rivalry with it being the first time they have clashed on a hardcourt after three previous meetings on the clay. Tsitsipas struck his first blow just two games into the match after breaking his Italian rival’s opening service game after a baseline rally between the two concluded with a Sinner forehand error. That sole break was enough of a margin for the fourth seed to go on and seal the opener in exactly 40 minutes.
Continuing his momentum into the second set, Tsitsipas extended his lead further by once again breaking early on. A stunning 129 km/h backhand winner set the Greek up with a break point which he converted following another Sinner error to move ahead 2-1 before the rain triggered a 20-minute delay.
When the match resumed, Tsitsipas still stood firm behind his serve despite Sinner illustrating glimmers of the talent he has. Throughout the second frame he dropped just six points behind his serve. Much to the frustration of his opponent who produced another costly forehand mis-hit whilst facing set point to move Tsitsipas six games away from victory.
“It’s part of the game. I knew I was heading towards the right direction with the game I managed to create from the beginning of the match,” Tsitsipas said of the rain delay.
“The conditions might have changed a little bit and so my mind did. I tried to adapt to these conditions and it just worked.”
Closing in on a place in the last four, the 23-year-old continued the trend of breaking early in each set. In the third game a winning backhand passing shot set him up with a break point which he converted after a Sinner shot crashed into the net. After securing the double break, Tsitsipas closed the match out on his first opportunity following error No.21 from Sinner.
Tsitsipas will play either Felix-Auger Aliassime or Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final. He is bidding to become the first Greek player in history to win a major title and the youngest man to win the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal back in 2009.
“Consistency is key and trying to stay humble. Even though I am in the semi-finals this is just the beginning of everything. I got to keep in the work, be one with the fans and let’s do it,” he concluded.
