Australian Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed, defeated Karen Khachanov in Melbourne on Friday to advance to his first Australian Open final.
Tsitsipas stumbled in the third set, but he recovered admirably to win on Rod Laver Arena with scores of 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3.
The 24-year-old remembered seeing Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis advance to the final here in 2006 right away, saying: “When I was younger, I had aspirations of playing on this court and facing off against the best athletes in the world. It reminds me of seeing it on TV as a child and supporting him.”
If he wins on Sunday, Tsitsipas would overtake Nadal as the world’s top player. He also stated: “I enjoy that figure. Being the best in the world was a childhood dream. I am nearby, and I’m pleased that it will happen in Australia, a country that holds special meaning for me. Guys, let’s get going and do it.”
The third seed has been a man on a mission for the past two weeks, only being challenged by Jannik Sinner in the fourth round. As he went up to serve for a straight-sets victory, he appeared to be cruising into the championship match.
The Greek eventually won in three hours and 21 minutes, but Russian Khachanov hung in there, breaking Tsitsipas and then saving two match points in the third-set tie-break.
Tsitsipas has advanced to the semifinals at Melbourne Park in three of the previous four years without winning, falling to Rafael Nadal in 2019 and Daniil Medvedev in 2021 and 2022.
He was not to be stopped this time, though, and will now try to improve on his only other grand slam final appearance at the French Open in 2021, where he had two sets to one advantage over Novak Djokovic before losing.
He may well score against the Serbian once more, but he believes that if he can play in the same manner as he did for the majority of this game, he has a chance to win.
Tsitsipas, who also failed to serve out the opening set, will undoubtedly need to avoid the same mistakes if it is Djokovic he encounters.
Tsitsipas lost serve after breaking to take a 5-3 lead, and after double-failing and running into a second-time violation, losing a first serve, he temporarily found himself in trouble at 5-5.
But he bounced back to hold, and he played a perfect tie-break to advance.
Tsitsipas, who had triumphed in all five of his prior encounters with Khachanov, played better in the second set as well. He broke in the last game, and he looked ready to win the match when he served for it at 5-4 in the third.
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