Sinner, the 22-year-old Italian whose star has been rising rapidly since last summer, fought back from two sets to love down to survive a gruelling physical, mental and tactical test against Daniil Medvedev and win the Australian Open, the first grand slam title of his career.

It will surely not be the last.

With his 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory in three hours and 44 minutes, Sinner becomes, fittingly, the youngest player to triumph at Melbourne Park since Novak Djokovic, the 10-time champion whose reign he ended in the previous round, and whose style his own silken baseline game so closely resembles. Whether he can go on to colonise Melbourne Park in similar fashion is open to question; what is certain is that Carlos Alcaraz no longer stands alone as the sole grand slam standard bearer for a new generation.

“I like to dance in the pressure storm,” said Sinner, after making good on the intimations of greatness that have long attended his journey from teenage prodigy to major winner. “That’s where most of the time I bring out my best tennis. I’m quite relaxed on these occasions, because I always try to enjoy [myself] on the court.”

Enjoyment and relaxation are rarely emotions associated with the grand slam crucible, yet Sinner is no ordinary exponent of his craft. A final guaranteed to produce a first-time Australian Open champion ended, as so many points have at this tournament, with a blistering forehand from the Italian that his stranded opponent could only watch flash past. It confirmed the coming of age of a generational talent, although that prospect looked unlikely after an hour and 25 minutes, the time it took for Medvedev to establish a seemingly unassailable lead.

Having previously lost on the last Sunday at Melbourne Park to Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, against whom he held a two-set advantage two years ago, Medvedev gave everything to avoid coming out second best for a third time in four years. This was the first time in six major finals that he had not been confronted with either of those two giants of the game and yet, after spending 20 hours and 33 minutes on court in his previous six matches, still the odds appeared skewed in his opponent’s favour.

The received wisdom was that the 27-year-old would have too little left in reserve to contain the blossoming skills of a younger rival who had played almost six hours fewer. But Medvedev initially made a mockery of that analysis, playing closer to the baseline to take time away from Sinner, charging the net with abandon, shifting in from his normal deep return position to pressure the Italian’s serve, and lashing forehands with unprecedented force.

It was a masterclass in controlled aggression, a game plan far removed from the Russian’s normal attritional style, and for a time it looked as though the Italian fans who had arrived at Rod Laver Arena expecting a coronation would instead witness perhaps the greatest tactical coup in a grand slam final since Arthur Ashe outwitted Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1975. 

Seven months ago, in his first major semi-final, Sinner faced a similarly onerous challenge against Djokovic at the All England Club. He left Centre Court that day on the wrong end of a straight-sets defeat, but the Italian, whose only previous recovery from two sets to love down came against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics last year on Margaret Court Arena, has become a far more accomplished player in the interim, and there would be no repeat.

“I had this feeling that he might come out a little bit more aggressive,” said Sinner. “Not this aggressive. He played really, really well for the first two-and-a-half sets. 

“I tried just to play [at an] even level, trying to take a couple of chances in the third set, which I’ve done. When you win one very important game, the match can change occasionally, and that was the case today.  

“I just tried to stay as long in the court as possible, knowing that he has spent so many hours on the court. The more the match goes on, maybe physically I’m a little bit better today, because he played so many hours. I think that today that was the key.”

Broken early in each of the first two sets, Sinner began the third in a different vein, raising his level on serve and belatedly finding his range from the back of the court as Medvedev struggled to maintain his early intensity. When the Russian sent a forehand long to concede the set, Sinner looked down at the court and exhaled deeply before shooting a steely look up to his team, his fist clenched, his relief palpable. 

Relief soon give way to belief. Fifty-six minutes later, as Medvedev lunged in vain to retrieve another battering-ram forehand, confirming the need for a decider, there was a look of deep conviction in his eyes.

“I started to feel like, OK, I’m there, I can do it,” said Sinner.

Medvedev, meanwhile, contemplating a fourth five-set marathon in seven matches, was inevitably beginning to feel the weight of his fortnight’s labour. 

“I felt like in my mind I was still going full, but the body was a little bit worse,” said Medvedev. “Jannik right now he can play long rallies, he can stay there. If I would be 100% fresh physically, maybe with my coach we could decide before the match, look, I’m going to get into these rallies and let’s see who is stronger physically.  

“But I knew that today I’m not in this shape so I needed to make the points as short as possible. I knew there was still going to be long points, but I needed to make the points as short at possible, take his time, and it was working well. To be honest, I think it was working well until the end.”

By the time the final ball was struck, Medvedev had played 31 of a possible 35 sets over the fortnight, spent 24 hours and 17 minutes on court, and become the first player in the open era to lose two major finals from two sets to love up. After a monumental effort, it was a battery of unwelcome records that felt ill-deserved. 

“At least I got a record in something,” smiled Medvedev. “I’m in the history books for something. Let’s take it.”

With Medvedev waning, the coup de grâce was effectively delivered in the sixth game of the decider, where Sinner blasted a trio of immaculate forehands to convert the second of three break points. Within a quarter of an hour, he was collapsing joyfully on to his back, the first player in a decade not named Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer to claim the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.

Two months after leading Italy to a first Davis Cup win in 48 years, Sinner also becomes the first player from his country to claim the Australian Open title, and only the third Italian man ever to win a grand slam, after the former French Open champions Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta. 

In contrast with Alcaraz, whose breakthrough victory at the US Open at the age of just 19 was the work of a player almost fully formed from the outset, Sinner’s story has been one of incremental progress. It has taken time for his rangy physique to catch up with the brutal power of his ball-striking, just as it has taken time to acquire the mental toughness that turns an outstanding shot-maker into a champion. At this Australian Open, his time finally arrived.

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With a bold but controlled performance that underlined her growing ease on the sport’s biggest stages, Sabalenka overwhelmed Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 6-2 to defend the Australian Open crown she won last year against Elena Rybakina. 

Across an hour and 16 minutes of explosive serving and blazing baseline play, Sabalenka went from a player who had reached the semi-finals or better at each of the past six slams, to the winner of two of the past three hard-court majors – an epithet with a far more pleasing ring. 

Following in the footsteps of Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, the 25-year-old also became only the fifth woman this century to claim the title without dropping a set, and the first to retain it since Victoria Azarenka, her fellow Belarusian, in 2013. The winning formula in her grasp, she is joining the ranks of some of the great serial winners.

Zheng too had hoped to emulate a celebrated compatriot, but the 21-year-old’s hopes of marking the 10th anniversary of Li Na’s famous Australian Open triumph with another Chinese success withered in the face of Sabalenka’s corrosive power. It will take a while to sink in, but more glory surely awaits the world No 2.

“I couldn’t even imagine myself, first of all, wining one grand slam – secondly, winning it twice in a row, that’s just crazy,” said Sabalenka. “I’m still trying to process it.”

In fairness, there is much to digest, for Sabalenka’s journey to this point has been nothing if not eventful. At one point, it seemed posterity might remember her as the finest player never to make it beyond the fourth round of a major. Barely had she disproved that theory by reaching the 2021 Wimbledon and US Open semi-finals, than her serve, the bedrock of her powerful game, deserted her. 

Never slow to smile, Sabalenka promptly branded herself “the queen of double faults”. Yet there was a more serious and even useful dimension to that difficult period. Sabalenka’s travails made her mind stronger; once known for having all the shots but lacking the mental toughness, she became a player able to harness her mental strength to buttress her failing game and control her emotional volatility.

“Of course there was really a moment where I really didn’t believe that I’m going to win it one day, especially those periods when I was serving double faults and couldn’t fix my serve,” said Sabalenka. “There was a lot of up and downs. But, you know, I just couldn’t quit.”

Sabalenka’s evolution came to a head in glorious fashion with last year’s triumph in Melbourne, and her emphatic defence of the title feels equally significant. She remained focused as Iga Swiatek, Rybakina and a host of other big names fell like skittles in the opposite half of the draw. She gained a cathartic semi-final win over Coco Gauff, who reeled her in from a set down in last year’s US Open final. And, at the first time of asking, she handled the pressure of defending a grand slam title with a composure that would probably make her unrecognisable to her former self. Now she is on the path to becoming a multiple grand slam winner.

“It’s been in my mind that I didn’t want to be that player who won it and then disappeared,” said Sabalenka. “I just wanted to show that I’m able to be consistently there and I’m able to win another one. I really hope [for] more, more than two right now – but for me [it] was really important. 

“Definitely that year when I was struggling a lot helped me a lot to understand that, even if my serve is not working, I’m able to fight for it, and I have a good return. 

“Right now, when I’m serving a little bit better than that year, definitely I feel more controlled on my serve. Even if I’m down in the score in my serve, or even if someone breaks me, I’m not getting crazy like I used to, and I have this belief that no matter what happens, I’m able to fight for it. I have a lot of weapons, not only my serve.”

All those qualities were on show against Zheng, who found herself a break down in just five minutes despite doing very little wrong. Having opened with three mighty first serves to three different corners, Sabalenka held to love and then began ripping returns and nailing groundstrokes with gleeful abandon. It earned her eight of the first nine points.

Over the course of the match, Zheng won almost three-quarters of her first-serve points and tallied six aces to the Belarusian’s three. As those statistics would suggest, she has a fine first delivery, and in her opening service game she made all but one of her six first serves. So the fact that she was broken regardless did not bode well, especially on an evening when she would land just 53% of her first serves. 

Always outwardly serene, Zheng must have felt increasingly shellshocked as points and games began flying by in a blizzard of big hitting from Sabalenka. The highest-rated player Zheng had faced previously at the tournament was Katie Boulter, the British world No 54; this was a vertiginous ascent up the rankings ladder.

“If you talk about nerves, I was fine,” said Zheng. “I think the difference is Aryna, she has much more, you know, she takes away the rhythm compared to other players.”

There were two small windows of opportunity for the Chinese player. The first came in the third game, where she had Sabalenka on the ropes at 0-40 on her serve. The second came in a passage of about 10 minutes or so at the end of the first set, when she saved three set points on her own serve and a fourth on the Belarusian’s. On each occasion, Sabalenka stood strong, first rallying her way through five straight points to hold for 3-0, then finding a penetrating first serve to seal the set. When Zheng hit three double faults to drop serve again at the start of the second set, the die was cast.

“I think the difference was the beginning, I couldn’t hold the service game,” said Zheng. “Then later on, when I got the chance to break her from 0-40 up, I’m not able to make it. That little moment makes the match so different. 

“If you play against Sabalenka [at] this level, if you don’t take this chance, the match goes away really fast. She’s a really aggressive player; if you let a chance go, it will happen like today.”

It is likely to happen again soon enough. Having harnessed her game and her emotions, Sabalenka can look to the season ahead with greater belief than ever, confident that she has all the tools she needs to seize the opportunities that eluded her last year. Karolina Muchova memorably recovered from match point down to defeat her in the French Open semi-finals, while Sabalenka squandered a one-set lead against Ons Jabeur at the same stage of Wimbledon – but it is hard to imagine those mistakes being repeated.

“I felt like I got super emotional and I just let those semi-finals get away,” said Sabalenka. “But I definitely think that if I’m going to keep working like I’m working right now, and if we’re going to keep building what we are building right now, I’m definitely able to do the same on the clay and on the grass.”

Why not? She’s a multiple grand slam winner now.

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Perhaps that was the real reason the former US Open champion appeared to repeatedly mouth the word “Karma” to his team after the 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory that propelled him to a third Australian Open final in four years. Social media was afterwards rife with speculation that the 27-year-old was making an oblique reference to an episode of the Netflix series Break Point in which Zverev, angered by Medvedev’s antics during a narrow defeat in Monte Carlo last year, is shown responding gleefully to his Russian rival’s first-round loss at Roland Garros. Medvedev, however, was at pains to play down the suggestion that his post-match celebration was related to the episode. 

“It was something related to my team, something about mentality,” said the world No 3. “So nothing to do with this. I would not be happy to do it this way.”

That Medvedev should have felt compelled to comment on events incidental to the match was in a sense ironic, given all the focus beforehand on Zverev’s contrasting reluctance to speak about the broader context to his campaign in Melbourne. Confirmation over the past fortnight that Zverev will stand trial in Berlin this May on domestic abuse charges has brought unrelenting scrutiny on the German, who denies the allegations and has bristled when questioned on the subject. Asked if it had affected his concentration as he advanced through the tournament, the 26-year-old was once again forthright in his response. 

“No, because I have said it before: anyone who has a semi-decent IQ level understands what’s going on,” said Zverev. “I hope that most of you guys do. I’m fine with it.”

He was less fine with the stroke of good fortune Medvedev enjoyed at 5-5 in the fourth-set tiebreak. Attempting to slice back a return, Medvedev shanked it and inadvertently hit an unreachable drop shot. Zverev, who had double-faulted on the previous point, could only look on in dismay as his opponent then slammed down a 125mph ace to level the match. 

“Just purely unlucky,” sighed Zverev, who played down the significance of an earlier pause in play caused by Medvedev’s request for a replay of a close line call while the German was serving for the set. Medvedev did not disagree with his rival’s analysis. 

“Lucky, lucky,” said Medvedev, who will play Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final after the Italian earlier defeated Novak Djokovic, the defending champion. “The side was against the wind. I think I was tight, so I shanked it. Did I want to go, at least, short or no? I don’t even remember. Just tried to put it in, so I shanked it a little bit. It was not like a frame completely, but I didn’t play it with the centre. 

“But the moment I saw it going, I was like there are two ways: either it touches the tape and stays on my side, or it just kind of rolls over on to his side. I was like, ‘Please, be the second one, I want to win.’ And it was the second one. Tough luck for him, for sure, in this point. Managed to make an ace after, but that’s what tennis is about.”

After Nadal’s Houdini act of two years ago, it was perhaps a slice of – luck, karma, call it what you will – that Medvedev had coming. Whatever it was, he made the most of it. 

Zverev had earlier established a seemingly unassailable lead playing near-flawless tennis, just as he did to defeat Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round. The German’s determination to go forward at every available opportunity did not prevent him from becoming embroiled in some gruelling baseline exchanges, but it did help to terminate many of them. That was most notably the case at the end of the second set, where Zverev capped a 51-shot exchange with a superb backhand half-volley. A similar shot, this time off the forehand, gave him the platform to take a two-set lead.

Medvedev looked tired at that point, as well he might after coming back from two sets to love down to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori last week in a contest that raged until 3.40am. He was also taken to a decider by Hubert Hurkacz in the previous round but, having survived those travails, he was in no mood to squander the chance to contest a third final. In the fifth game of the decider, a stunning backhand pass brought up a break point; the anguish on Zverev’s face as he netted a plus-one forehand was plain.

“Mentally, 100%, I’m stronger than I was before this tournament, because now I know that I’m capable of some things maybe I thought I’m not,” said Medvedev. “Before [now] I didn’t do anything like this to get to the final. So mentally I’m stronger than before, and I’m happy about it. 

“Probably, honestly, it’s better to be in the final winning three-set, four-set matches. That’s the better way physically. But it is what it is, and I’m proud and looking forward to the final to give my 100% again.”

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Given that Sinner is ranked fourth in the world and came into the match with two victories from his past three matches against Djokovic, it feels almost wrong to cast the result as an upset. Yet an upset it undeniably was, even on a day when the winner of 24 majors was such a pale imitation of his normal self that, for the first time in almost 400 grand slam matches, he was unable to fashion a single break point. 

“The streak was going to end one day,” said Djokovic after suffering his first loss at Melbourne Park since Hyeon Chung ambushed him in the fourth round six years ago. “It was going to happen, and at least I gave everything I possibly can under circumstances where I didn’t play well, and I lost to a player that has a very good chance to win his first slam. 

“He’s deservedly in the finals. He outplayed me completely today.  

“I was, in a way, shocked with my level, you know, in a bad way. There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets. I guess this is one of the worst grand slam matches I’ve ever played, at least that I remember. 

“Not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, credit to him for doing everything better than me in every aspect of the game.”

For all the brilliance Sinner showed last year to thwart Djokovic, first in the group stage of the ATP Finals and then in the Davis Cup semi-finals, this was a challenge of a wholly different magnitude. The five-set format traditionally affords Djokovic time to problem-solve, to impose his all-court game and experience, to retrieve lost causes. Rod Laver Arena has provided the backdrop to so many lung-sapping comebacks and injury-defying feats of mental, physical and emotional resilience by Djokovic, yet Sinner was ready to answer the summons. 

Steady of mind and sure of shot, the Italian absorbed all the history and experience and big-match nous on the opposite side of the net. He calmly took advantage of Djokovic’s worst ever start to a grand slam match. He resisted the inevitable fightback that followed, when the Serb saved a match point in the third-set tiebreak. And he held firm down the stretch, something that not even Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray have been able to do over the concluding weekend of the tournament. 

It was enough to end Djokovic’s flawless record of 20 wins from 20 previous matches in the final two rounds, and to suggest that Sinner may be ready to achieve still greater things when he faces Daniil Medvedev, a 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 winner over Alexander Zverev, in Sunday’s final.

“Last year, especially the end of the year, gave me confidence that I could potentially do some good results in grand slams,” said Sinner. “But in the other way, you still have to show it.

“I realised, especially the first sets, he was not playing that great, but I tried to have the intensity as high as possible – and I took the chance.”

It seemed possible that chance might have passed the 22-year-old by when Djokovic raised his level to force a third-set tiebreak. Twice the Serb opened up an early two-point advantage, and although Sinner quickly cancelled out those deficits, he was thwarted by a brilliant piece of defensive play from the defending champion as he served at 5-4. A stinging first serve then brought up a match point for the Italian, but Djokovic held his nerve and his length to draw an error, a pattern he repeated after courageously venturing forward to bring up set point. With a look of grim resolve, Djokovic turned to the Serbian contingent in the stands and raised a clenched fist. Game on.

Even with the 36-year-old still far from his best, it was hard to shake the suspicion that he would somehow find a way to salvage the situation, just as he did at Wimbledon in 2022, when he cancelled out a two-set deficit against Sinner to win in five. In fact, the woeful nature of Djokovic’s performance over the first hour and 14 minutes, in which he made a whopping 29 unforced errors to fall two sets to love down, only made it seem likelier that he would climb from the canvas as he has done so often in the past. Having overcome injury, illness and dropped sets against Dino Prizmic, Alexei Popyrin and Taylor Fritz earlier in the tournament, this was surely just one more hurdle to be surmounted. 

“It’s not easy, because you are so close and then, in your mind, the way is long still,” said Sinner. “But in the other way, I sat down, I tried to think also that the score was two sets to one for me, so it was positive.”

Thwarted by Djokovic in the first grand slam semi-final of his career at Wimbledon last year, Sinner would not be denied again. He outrallied the Serb to break in the fourth game, and remained impregnable on serve. Finally, 55 minutes after holding his first match point, he stepped up to the line with a second, battering an unreachable forehand approach into the corner to claim the last of his 31 winners and end, for the time being at least, Djokovic’s extraordinary reign on Australian soil. 

“I didn’t feel really myself on the court during this tournament,” said Djokovic. “One can say semi-finals is a great result, of course, but I always expect the highest of myself, and it wasn’t meant to be today.

“Congrats to him. He just played a flawless match.”

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“I love it, I love it” said Sabalenka, the defending champion, of her rematch with Gauff. “After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge.”

Such openness is rare in the ever-guarded world of elite sport. Gunning for revenge is not the done thing, and it takes a certain kind of heart-on-sleeve character, a certain brand of chutzpah, to publicly declare vengeance as a source of motivation. Keegan, who would perhaps recognise in Sabalenka a kindred spirit, never did get the cathartic title win he craved, his Newcastle side entering a late tailspin as he refused to rein in his commitment to all-out attack. Sabalenka lives by a similar philosophy, and it served her well as she claimed a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory to move into a second straight final at Melbourne Park, the first woman to do since Serena Williams in 2017.

“I think in New York I played a little bit passive tennis,” said Sabalenka, whose 20 net approaches and 33 winners on this occasion spoke of a woman resolved not to repeat past mistakes. 

“I didn’t put so much pressure on her. I mean, I did in the first set, but then I kind of slowed down and started just trying to play rallies with her, which was not working well. 

“The whole pre-season I was working on those approach shots, on coming to the net and finishing the point [at] the net. I’m super happy that I was able to do that on court today, and I think that’s the difference between these two matches.”

Through to a third consecutive grand slam final on hard courts, Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a drop set at the tournament, will face Qinwen Zheng in Saturday’s final. The 21-year-old from China, seeded 12th, defeated Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.

Unbeaten in 13 matches at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka has steadily grown in stature over the past 17 months, reaching the semi-finals or better at each of the past six majors. But while the odds clearly favour the holder, it will not have gone unnoticed in Zheng’s camp that Sabalenka has also shown a tendency to falter at critical moments. She has squandered one-set leads against Iga Swiatek and Gauff at the US Open, lost to Karolina Pliskova and Ons Jabeur from a set up at at Wimbledon, and missed a match point against Karolina Muchova at last year’s French Open. It is not for want of opportunity that last year’s Australian Open victory remains Sabalenka’s sole success at this level. 

History threatened to repeat itself against Gauff, who clawed her way back from 2-5 down in the opening set to come within two points of clinching it, and fought tigerishly throughout the second. This time, though, Sabalenka would not be denied, even when Gauff produced a brilliant 121mph body serve to stave off a set point at 5-4 in the opener. She kept swinging freely, determined to play the match on her own terms, and her conviction was equally unwavering two games later, with the American serving at 6-5, 30-0. After pounding her way to parity, Sabalenka sustained her momentum into the tiebreak, winning six of the first seven points to establish an unassailable lead. 

An unreturnable serve sealed the set, and the 25-year-old’s belief in her fearsome delivery was equally evident when, after breaking nine games later, she produced two of only four aces on the night to serve out the win.

“I had chances in both sets, but she played better tonight,” said Gauff, who struggled in the previous round against Marta Kostyuk but performed markedly better here, after missing out on the opportunity to climb to a career-high ranking of No 2 in the world. 

“I felt like I did my best with the game plan that I had. I think it just came down to a couple of points, and that’s tennis.”

Like Gauff, Zheng’s previous best run at a major also came in New York, where she reached the quarter-finals last September before falling to Sabalenka in straight sets. That experience served her well against Yastremska, who made an auspicious start to the biggest match of her career, claiming an early break, only to relinquish the advantage immediately with four double faults. Grateful for the second chance, Zheng promptly held to love before forging ahead in the seventh game after the Ukrainian suffered an abdominal injury that required a medical timeout.

“Definitely she has a lot of nice opportunities to win a grand slam,” said Yastremska, 23, of her impressive opponent. “I think she’s a great player. She has powerful shots and a really good serve. 

“If she will be able to stay stable emotionally, and if she will be able to hold her level up like she did today pretty well in important moments, she can win – and she can win, I will say, even pretty easy. But it’s going to be a good fight.”

With Sabalenka seeking to become the first woman to mount a successful title defence since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013, and Zheng aiming to mark the 10th anniversary of Li Na’s victory by becoming only the second Chinese player in history to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, a good fight is the least it should be.

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Zheng, the 12th seed, fought back from a set down against Anna Kalinskaya to reach the last four at Melbourne Park, a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory confirming the deepest grand slam run of her career, following last year’s quarter-final finish at the US Open. Long tipped as a future grand slam champion, she will next face Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Linda Noskova, the Czech teenager who stunned top seed Iga Swiatek in the third round.

“I’m so happy right now, really excited,” Zheng enthused in her on-court interview with Jelena Dokic. “It’s the first time for me, I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals, especially with such a good performance.”

That breakthrough, which puts Zheng within two wins of emulating her childhood idol, follows a surprise meeting with Na, who is in town for the legends’ event and greeted her countrywoman with a convivial pat on the derrière as she was performing a television interview. Zheng, who has said she watched the video of Na’s triumph “more than 10 times” as a young girl but had never previously spoken with her, was evidently inspired by the meeting. She has since gone from strength to strength, and next week she will break into the world’s top 10 for the first time – although she was unaware of that impending milestone until informed by Dokic. 

“Thanks for letting me know that,” said Zheng, before showing something of Na’s mischievous wit. “Nobody tells me anything.” 

Zheng’s hopes of earning a place in the pantheon alongside Na seemed to be in jeopardy early on. She struggled to find her first serve and emerged from the opening set with a win rate of just 42% behind the second, enabling Kalinskaya to bounce back immediately from a pair of early breaks. 

“I lost the first set because I got those early breaks [and] then, later on, I’m not able to keep my serve,” said Zheng. “When I lost the first set, directly, I tried to tell myself, ‘Stay focused. Don’t think too much. Just focus right now.’  

“The first set proved thinking too much was not helping, and you can’t play your best tennis there.”

Having wiped the mental slate clean, Zheng was a player transformed in the second set, raising her level on serve and showed greater composure, patience and quality in the baseline exchanges. Those virtues were never more evident than in the eighth game, where she converted the only break point of the set by maintaining line and length until the right ball presented itself, at which point she caught out Kalinskaya with a sudden and forceful change of direction.

A similar play earned Zheng an early break in the decider, this time off a razor-sharp return, and from there her clarity of purpose and clean, early ball-striking became irresistible, belief draining rapidly from the Russian as she struggled with a right hip injury that required a medical timeout.  

Zheng’s progress in Melbourne has echoed that of Na in 2014, big names toppling all around her until she herself finally became the biggest name left standing, at least in the top half of the draw. For Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka then, read Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula now. 

Nor do the similarities end there: just as Na navigated her way to the title without facing any of her top-20 rivals, so Zheng has arrived in the semi-finals without facing anyone ranked higher than Katie Boulter, the British world No 54.

The omens could not be more encouraging as she prepares to face Yastremska, whose fearless run from qualifying to the last four harks back to Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary title win at the 2021 US Open.

“The feeling is just… I can’t explain in words right now, because there are so many inside,” said Zheng. “Happiness. Of course, I’m proud of myself. But, you know, this is just the beginning.”

It just might be.

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The 19-year-old American preserved her unbeaten start to the season with a resourceful but unsightly 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 win that featured plenty of spirit and determination but also a whopping 51 unforced errors. In that sense it was by far the dirtiest of what is now, following her triumph at last year’s US Open, a dozen straight grand slam victories for Gauff, who will nonetheless need to improve significantly if she to repeat the victory over Aryna Sabalenka that earned her that maiden grand slam success.

The one saving grace for Gauff was that Kostyuk, a 21-year-old from Kyiv ranked 35 in the world, was even more erratic. Playing in the first major singles quarter-final of her career, Kostyuk was unable to capitalise on a 5-1 lead in the opening set, twice missing set points as nerves – and, later, frustration – got the better of her. So too did an unforced error count that had reached 56 by the time Gauff, who joked afterwards that she ought to read Winning Ugly, the seminal book written by her coach Brad Gilbert, rounded off the longest grand slam match of her career in three hours and eight minutes.

“It was a fight,” said Gauff of a contest played in sweltering conditions. “I think today was definitely a C game, so I didn’t play my best tennis, but I’m really proud that I was able to get through. Hopefully, I got the bad match out of the way.

“I bought a copy [of Winning Ugly] but I didn’t read it. Maybe I should add it to my reading list. My mom actually got it for me when we were in the talks of just possibly working with Brad, and she was like, ‘You need to read this.’ She read it and I didn’t read it. 

“But I feel like I got the real version, so I don’t need a book. But maybe it could help. I’ll probably do it just to surprise him.”

After a performance that stood in marked contrast to Gauff’s seamless progress through the first four rounds at Melbourne Park, there may already be some surprise on Gilbert’s part. Yet for all the fourth seed’s struggles, huge credit must go to Kostyuk, a gifted athlete and powerful ball-striker who, at a tournament where she has striven to highlight the ongoing war in her native Ukraine, once again demonstrated tremendous mental and emotional resilience. 

Despite the disappointment of missing two set points in the opener – the second, a rushed inside-out forehand at 6-5 in the tiebreak, was a particular source of dismay – Kostyuk kept coming, breaking at the start of the second set, breaking again when Gauff served for the match in the ninth game, and even pulling back a couple of games from 5-0 down in the decider. Set to enter the top 30 for the first time following her run in Melbourne, Kostyuk is rightly ringing the positives.

“For me, it’s a win, because I was playing one of the best girls in the world and managed to be still very close,” said the Ukrainian. “It feels far, but also very close. This whole tournament I think is a big win for me.”

Whether it will also be a big win for Gauff will depend on how quickly she can put this performance behind her and make a rapid return to form against Sabalenka. Through to a sixth straight grand slam semi-final after demolishing Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3, the Belarusian defending champion has yet to drop more than three games in a set in Melbourne.

“I think my mindset is that I’m not getting crazy on court, I’m not rushing things,” said Sabalenka, the second seed, of her newfound consistency on the game’s biggest stages. “I’m just playing point by point, and that’s it, and fighting for every point without overthinking about my dreams, about what I want to do, about how many slams I want to win and all that stuff.  

“I was able to separate myself from that kind of mentality and just start focusing on myself and focusing on things I can improve.”

Sabalenka’s focus was certainly admirable against Krejcikova, particularly after a late start caused by the length of the day session, which overran when Gauff’s epic win was followed by a protracted struggle between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz. 

Sabalenka and Krejcikova, who eventually arrived on court well after 9pm, were controversially asked by tournament organisers if they would care to play on Margaret Court Arena, which has about half the capacity of Rod Laver Arena. Understandably, they declined.

“I think for the quarter-finals match, it’s important to be played on such a big stadium,” said Sabalenka.

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The on-court interview that followed Novak Djokovic’s latest Australian Open victory did almost as much to explain the 36-year-old’s continued stranglehold on the men’s game as the 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz that preceded it. 

No sooner had the Rod Laver Arena crowd been treated, if that is the right word, to the singular sight of Nick Kyrgios emerging to conduct the post-match pleasantries, than Djokovic asserted himself. “I need a mic, thanks man,” he said, relieving Kyrgios of his microphone and, in an instant, realising a cherished dream of chair umpires the length and breadth of the tennis world by rendering the Australian bad boy temporarily silent.

“Good to see you man,” said Djokovic, who will face Jannik Sinner, a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 winner over Andrey Rublev, in the semi-finals. “Looking good in that booth, but looking better here, hopefully with a racket also soon. We miss Nick. Come on guys, show him some love.”

As a wave of applause broke out, and Kyrgios shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, you half wondered whether we would hear from the 28-year-old Canberran again. He was eventually furnished with a mic of his own, but not before Djokovic – who earlier blew a mid-match kiss to Kyrgios as the injured star watched from a courtside commentary booth – had stolen the show. Whether wielding a racket or a microphone, the Serbian world No 1 remains the sport’s alpha male.

After a typically incisive appraisal of how he had subdued Fritz despite an unusually poor conversion rate on break points – Djokovic capitalised on just four of 21 but, as he reflected, “managed to break him when it mattered” – the Serb promised he would introduce Kyrgios to the much-discussed tree in Melbourne’s royal botanical gardens that he says makes him feel “grounded”.

“What you’ve got to do is take off your shoes, climb the tree [to] the highest point, and hang upside down, on one of the highest branches, for 33 minutes and three seconds,” the 24-time grand slam champion told Kyrgios. “Then you’re going to win a slam.”

He might as well have been addressing the entire locker room. Over the past 10 days, Djokovic has struggled with a wrist injury, a viral ailment and some recalcitrant opponents, of whom Fritz was the latest. Nothing has seriously threatened to derail his bid for an 11th title at Melbourne Park, and in all likelihood nothing will. 

Fritz, seeded 12th and able to draw confidence from the experience of pushing Djokovic to five sets in Rod Laver Arena three years ago – which is more than most can say, even if the Serb did suffer a mid-match abdominal injury – brought plenty to the party. He slammed a mighty 63 winners. He saved eight break points in the first set and seven in the second. And in sweltering conditions, he forced Djokovic to run and run. 

But when the American fired down an ace to level at a set apiece, Djokovic changed gears, regaining the lead with a near-perfect 38-minute passage in which he hit 14 winners while making just one mistake. Despite an exchange of breaks midway through the fourth, the pressure on Fritz remained unrelenting, the outcome effectively sealed when the Californian double-faulted to drop serve for a second time.

“He’s so fast, he doesn’t really miss a lot of balls,” said Fritz. “He definitely makes you really work and hit quality shots to win points. It’s also just the lack of free points he gives you.  

“I never just hit a second serve and he just misses it. That just doesn’t happen. Even when I’m going after my second serve hitting second serves that are consistently like 100, 105 miles per hour, jamming him, he still just puts it on the baseline.  

“It’s definitely tough when you don’t get those free points and you have to work for every single point.”

Fritz is not the first to feel that unrelenting pressure. Djokovic has now won 33 straight matches at the Australian Open, equalling a record held by Monica Seles. This was also his 15th grand slam win over a top-20 player since turning 35, eclipsing a mark previously shared with Roger Federer.

The Serb has had to work harder than usual over the first five rounds – the 15 hours and nine minutes he has spent on court so far is a personal record – but he will have two days to rest before facing Sinner. Few would be surprised if the tournament culminates with the Serb eclipsing all-comers for a 25th time. 

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So what was it that worked so well this time around, Jim Courier asked Alcaraz, recalling the dramatic three-set tussle between the pair at the Miami Open almost two years ago? “Well, I think everything,” replied Alcaraz without missing a beat. It was hard to disagree.

Having laboured towards the end of last season, Alcaraz is slowly rediscovering the joy that invariably accompanies his best tennis. He has dropped just one set so far, against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in round two, and here his signature blend of outrageous athleticism, thunderous baseline play and silken touch proved irresistible. 

In his finest performance so far at Melbourne Park, Alcaraz ran Kecmanovic ragged, his 43 winners conjured from every corner of the court as he completed a personal grand slam of major quarter-finals. In the open era, only Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have reached the last eight of all four blue-riband events at a younger age. The impression is of a man on a similar path to the one he trod last year at Wimbledon, where he became more comfortable with the surface and surroundings with each passing round. We all know how that one ended.

“I didn’t play so much here in Rod Laver, I didn’t play so much as well [on Wimbledon’s Centre Court],” said Alcaraz. “Probably the process could be the same or similar.

“Every match that I’m playing, I’m feeling better and better on a court I didn’t play [on] so much. Hopefully the same as Wimbledon.”

High on confidence but lower on energy after recovering from match point down to win in five sets in both of his two previous matches, Kecmanovic was run ragged by the Spaniard, who broke in the third game with a fortuitous net cord and never looked back. If Alcaraz was grateful to his opponent for removing Tommy Paul from his path – the 14th-seeded American, a semi-finalist last year, has won two of their four previous meetings – he had a funny way of showing it. 

“I pushed him to the limit in every ball, in every point,” said Alcaraz. “Obviously, he has played a lot of matches in five sets, a lot of tough matches before this one. Probably, physically, he wasn’t at his 100%. In every ball, I pushed him to the limit and moved him side to side. I could take my chances in every set, and I think it was a pretty good match for myself.”

The Spaniard did not face a break point throughout, and even the faintest glimmers of hope for Kecmanovic was ruthlessly and summarily snuffed out. A case in point came early in the second set, when the Serb gained a rare foothold in an Alcaraz service game only to send a makable return long. Moments later, Alcaraz thumped a ferocious off-forehand to hold. When he went on to secure a break in the seventh game, punctuating a 22-stroke rally with a searing cross-court backhand, the contest was over in all but name.

Alcaraz will face Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals after the German sixth seed prevailed 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Zverev, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2020, has won four of his seven meetings with the Spaniard, most recently in the group stage of the ATP Finals last November. Alcaraz, meanwhile, claimed a straight-sets victory when the pair met in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, two days after Zverev had outlasted Jannik Sinner in a punishing five-set marathon.  

“I’m not like [I was at] the US Open, where I was completely dead and where I felt physically exhausted,” said Zverev, who also pushed to a final-set tiebreak by the Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein in round two. 

“I’m tired, for sure, because I played 7-6 in the fifth set again two times out of the last three matches, but I’m not dead. I’m not completely exhausted. I’m not in the same physical state I was in the US Open. I expect it to be very different, to be honest.”

In the other quarter-final in the lower half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev will face Hubert Hurkacz. The Russian third seed saw off Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-1.

“It’s tough to return his serve,” said Medvedev of Hurkacz, who ran out a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 over Arthur Cazaux of France. “That’s going to be the key. I need to stay strong on my serve, don’t give him the break, either try to break him or go to the tiebreak and try to win the tiebreak.”

The post Alcaraz takes flight to make last eight at Australian Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Mannarino did not play badly; far from it. Few players have a more instinctive feel for the geometry of a tennis court than the mercurial southpaw, and his mastery of line and length meant the baseline exchanges were never less than competitive. Djokovic, however, was relentless, his physical and mental intensity off the charts as he refused to allow an opponent with a trio of five-set wins in his legs a moment’s respite. 

By the time two sets had rolled by, Mannarino was reduced to incredulous laughter, miming his predicament to his team at the changeover as he made two circles with his fingers to form a pair of spectacles. Two games later, when he finally held serve for the first time to make a belated impression on the scoreboard, the Frenchman was afforded a rapturous ovation. Djokovic, meanwhile, was impassive – until Alison Hughes, the British chair umpire, started the shot clock before the din had died down, prompting a furious reaction from the 10-time champion.

“The tension in the third set, it was so big, whether he’s going to win a game or not,” said Djokovic after advancing to a 58th grand slam quarter-final to equal Roger Federer’s record. “The crowd wanted him to win a game and be in the match. I almost felt like it’s good to give away the game, just to be able to reset and refocus because the tension is growing as the match progresses without him winning a game.  

“I think, of course, it’s tough for him, but also for me to be able to not think about that, not think about the triple bagel.

“It was a very clean overall performance, against always a tricky opponent who plays a kind of a cat-and-mouse type of tennis. Has a very flat backhand, uses his talent and his touch very well, puts you in a very uncomfortable position on the court, makes you work.”

That much was evident when one punishing rally early in the second set left Djokovic bent double on the baseline, clutching at his shin and almost retching as he struggled for breath. The Serbian world No 1 has been suffering from a viral infection over the past week and, as he ran down the shot clock, stalling for time, Mannarino sensed an opportunity. Djokovic had won eight straight games up to that point; a break would have offered Mannarino an opportunity to reset, to get back on serve, to be something more than a bystander at his own execution. 

Now was the time for a flash of French brilliance, a party piece like the astonishing drop volley Mannarino produced against Shelton, a stroke so heavily cut that, as it spun off violently at a 180-degree angle, he gleefully turned his back, confident in the knowledge the point was won. Djokovic has a few party pieces of his own, however, and he responded to the danger with one of his favourites: a precise 124mph ace down the centre line that left Mannarino flailing at thin air. The Frenchman would not see another break point, the chief interest from thereon lying in whether Djokovic would go on to claim the first 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 win at a major since Sergei Bruguera humbled Thierry Champion by that score at the French Open in 1993.

“I thought maybe I would this year feel slightly more relaxed, for lack of better term, or maybe less tension,” said Djokovic, who would claim an all-time record were he to win a 25th grand slam title a week from now. “But it’s not. It is as it always was: very high intensity. 

“You can see it even today. I was 6-0, 2-0 up. It was a long game, and I was like going on with discussions, heated discussions, with my box. I always look for the best performance from myself.”

Having raised his level significantly since the opening two rounds, in which he was taken to four sets first by Dino Prizmic, a Croatian qualifier, and then by Alexei Popyrin, the Australian world No 43, Djokovic will face Taylor Fritz of the United States for a place in the last four. Fritz, the 12th seed, defeated last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a repeat of his third-round meeting with Djokovic in Rod Laver Arena three years ago, when the Serb suffered an abdominal injury before prevailing in five dramatic sets.

“I think that I have a lot more level to bring than I’ve previously brought against him,” said Fritz following his maiden top-10 win at a major. “Hopefully, I can play another match like today.”

The winner of that match will play either Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev, respectively seeded fourth and fifth, who advanced to the last eight in contrasting style. 

Sinner, who has won two of his last three meetings with Djokovic and has yet to drop a set in Melbourne, claimed a 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.

Rublev was forced to take a more circuitous route to victory, prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-0 against Alex de Minaur to prolong Australia’s 48-year wait for a home champion. 

“The match was basically changed when he started to get a little bit more fatigued and he started to realise that he probably had to go after it a little bit more, and adopted a more aggressive game style,” said De Minaur, adding that his downfall owed nothing to the pressure of domestic expectations.

“He executed that and I wasn’t able to expose his movement. Nothing about pressure. Nothing about expectation. None of that.”

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