Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to his third Australian Open semi-final with a dominant 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The Greek improves to 4-0 in Grand Slam quarter-finals and could face a rematch of last year’s Aussie Open semi-final against Daniil Medvedev, if the Russian beats Felix Auger-Aliassime later on Wednesday.
After surviving an up-and-down five-setter against American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, the World No. 4 maintained an elite level throughout the two-hour, five-minute contest on Rod Laver Arena. Tsitsipas, who won all four of his break points, did his damage early in each set. On serve, he was pushed as far as deuce just once and never faced a break point.
“Jannik is a very good player. So I tried to focus on my best shots and it paid off more than I thought,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “I am very, very happy with the way I served today and the way I came in and used my tactics in today’s match structure. Having the crowd support is truly unbelievable.”
With great crowd support, Tsitsipas dazed the Italian with a blazing start, looking explosive in his lateral movement and off his favoured forehand wing. After holding from 0/30 in the opening game, he broke from 40/15 on Sinner’s serve as he built an immediate 3-0 cushion.
Sinner won 11 straight points on serve from there, but Tsitsipas protected his own delivery to claim an efficient opening set in 36 minutes.
The Greek’s aggressive court positioning was rewarded again with an early break in set two. Keeping tight to the baseline, he won rallies of 14 and 16 balls and hit the line with a down-the-line backhand winner to take complete command.
Heavy rain gave Sinner a welcome respite, forcing a 20-minute delay as the roof was closed and court dried. But like in the opening set, both men continued to hold serve comfortably as Tsitsipas eased to a two-set lead.
“It is part of the game,” Tsitsipas said on the roof closing. “I knew I was heading towards the right direction with the game I managed to create from the start of the match. The conditions changed when the roof was closed, slightly faster. I tried to adapt to these new conditions and it just worked.”
A stunning backhand pass set up another early break as set three followed the established scoring pattern. After lasering that down-the-line winner off a Sinner swinging volley, Tsitsipas made it three-for-three on break points when an unforced error from the 11th seed ended an eight-ball rally. After Tsitsipas fought through deuce for the only time in the match to hold for 3-1, another break extinguished any hope of a Sinner comeback.
Tsitsipas will now await the winner of the match between Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime—the night-session opener in Laver. The opposite men’s semi-final will see sixth seed Rafael Nadal take on Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, with both matches scheduled for Friday in Melbourne.
After surviving an up-and-down five-setter against American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, the World No. 4 maintained an elite level throughout the two-hour, five-minute contest on Rod Laver Arena. Tsitsipas, who won all four of his break points, did his damage early in each set. On serve, he was pushed as far as deuce just once and never faced a break point.
“Jannik is a very good player. So I tried to focus on my best shots and it paid off more than I thought,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “I am very, very happy with the way I served today and the way I came in and used my tactics in today’s match structure. Having the crowd support is truly unbelievable.”
With great crowd support, Tsitsipas dazed the Italian with a blazing start, looking explosive in his lateral movement and off his favoured forehand wing. After holding from 0/30 in the opening game, he broke from 40/15 on Sinner’s serve as he built an immediate 3-0 cushion.
Sinner won 11 straight points on serve from there, but Tsitsipas protected his own delivery to claim an efficient opening set in 36 minutes.
The Greek’s aggressive court positioning was rewarded again with an early break in set two. Keeping tight to the baseline, he won rallies of 14 and 16 balls and hit the line with a down-the-line backhand winner to take complete command.
Heavy rain gave Sinner a welcome respite, forcing a 20-minute delay as the roof was closed and court dried. But like in the opening set, both men continued to hold serve comfortably as Tsitsipas eased to a two-set lead.
“It is part of the game,” Tsitsipas said on the roof closing. “I knew I was heading towards the right direction with the game I managed to create from the start of the match. The conditions changed when the roof was closed, slightly faster. I tried to adapt to these new conditions and it just worked.”
A stunning backhand pass set up another early break as set three followed the established scoring pattern. After lasering that down-the-line winner off a Sinner swinging volley, Tsitsipas made it three-for-three on break points when an unforced error from the 11th seed ended an eight-ball rally. After Tsitsipas fought through deuce for the only time in the match to hold for 3-1, another break extinguished any hope of a Sinner comeback.
Tsitsipas will now await the winner of the match between Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime—the night-session opener in Laver. The opposite men’s semi-final will see sixth seed Rafael Nadal take on Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, with both matches scheduled for Friday in Melbourne.