Daniil Medvedev is through to the Australian Open final after making a complete comeback against Alexander Zverev - 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3. The battle between the two lasted just over four hours and 20 minutes and the Russian will play in his third final in Melbourne.
The first two sets were won by the sixth seeded German, who continued his strong performance in the quarterfinals with Carlos Alcaraz. The opening set was strange, with Zverev leading by two breaks and serving for 5-1 before Medvedev battling back and levelling at 5-5. However, his German opponent had the last word and pulled ahead before playing a solid second set in which he converted two breaks for a comfortable lead in the match.
However, Medvedev held on in the next two sets, which went without a break, and with more solid play in the decisive moments took both tiebreaks to take things to a decisive fifth set. In it, the Russian tennis player materialized his psychological advantage and, after two breaks, broke the opponent's resistance for the complete turnaround in the match.
Both finished with 14 aces each, with Zverev hitting 14 winners more than his opponent, but also making significantly more unforced errors than Medvedev - 70 to 41. The Russian will be playing in his third Australian Open final in four years and will be hoping for a first title in Melbourne and a second Grand Slam overall, having lost on the previous two occasions to Novak Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022. Zverev, for his part, lost his second semi-final in Australia as well as the chance to take part in a second final in the Grand Slam after the 2020 US Open, when he lost to Dominic Thiem in five sets.
Medvedev's opponent in the final will be the debutant of such a phase in Slam tournaments Jannick Sinner. The Italian world No. 4 crushed reigning champion Djokovic in four sets to move into contention for the trophy with just one set dropped in the entire tournament.
Medvedev and Sinner have nine matches between them, with the Russian leading 6-3 in head-to-head matches. Medvedev won their first six meetings but lost the next three - the pair played each other a total of five times last year, with the Italian triumphing in three of those matches. /BGNES
