Of course, Sinner’s shot, magnificent as it was, did no more than seal the opening set; in theory, anything was still possible. Indeed, no one could have done more to push the boundaries of possibility than Dimitrov has over the past week or so, the 32-year-old claiming back-to-back wins over Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev to secure a return to the world’s top 10 for the first time since 2018.

But Sinner deals in certainties rather than potentialities these days, and when he pulled off that wonder shot, everyone knew where the contest was heading. Twenty minutes later, the 22-year-old sealed a 6-3, 6-1 victory to clinch his third trophy of the season, following his maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open and last month’s victory in Rotterdam, and on this evidence there will be plenty more to come. 

Sinner has prevailed in all but one of his 23 matches this year, a three-set loss to Alcaraz in Indian Wells the only blemish on an increasingly outstanding record. With his latest triumph, Sinner overtook the Spaniard to become the new world No 2, burnishing his position as the highest-ranked Italian in history. For all his growing list of achievements, however, nothing impresses more than the lightness with which Sinner wears his success.

“Being No 2, it’s an amazing feeling,” said the Italian. “I never thought to come to this point. I come from a very normal family. My dad is still working, as [is] my mum, too. 

“For me, sport is one thing, and life is different. I’m very happy to be in this position. I’m just enjoying every moment. These are special days, winning a tournament. Doesn’t matter what kind of tournament, it’s a special day. It means a lot to me.”

This was the Sinner’s third Miami Open final in four years and, having lost the previous two, he joked beforehand of making it third time lucky. Luck, however, had nothing to do with it. With the benefit of hindsight, Dimitrov’s challenge effectively ended after just 14 minutes, when he fired an inside-out forehand millimetres wide on what would prove to be his only break point of the afternoon. 

The Bulgarian had been ticking over nicely up to that point, blasting big forehands and even bigger serves, knifing sliced backhands, going to toe-to-toe with Sinner in the baseline exchanges. But the Italian broke in the next game, producing a sensational lunging return off a 129mph serve before following up with a hammer-like forehand pass, and from there it was one-way traffic. 

“You never know, if I would have broken him in that game, how the match would have turned out,” said Dimitrov, who will rise to ninth in the world on Monday. “But also, he’s a frontrunner. If he’s up a break, I think his confidence kicks in even a little bit more. He starts playing a little bit more loose and free.  

“I think he’s been able to do that not just now, not just today, but every single match, to play with that level. I think that’s probably one of his biggest weapons right now. From the baseline and all that, I like my chances. I can rally with him. I felt fairly comfortable. But on a few occasions, clearly he put me in a very bad position, and he was able to take the initiative.

“He’s been able to do that amazingly throughout the whole time of the match, for a couple of sets, with less mistakes, good first serves, good returns, puts a constant pressure.”

It has been very much the story of Sinner’s season so far. He has always been a thunderous ball-striker, but the improvements he has made to his serve and physicality have transformed him into a serial champion. Heading into the clay-court swing, he leads the ATP race and stands just 1,015 points shy of Novak Djokovic in the rankings. No one should be surprised if he takes the final step in the months ahead.

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If their Hard Rock Stadium rematch offered Sinner a yardstick by which to measure his progress since this time last year, it was one he used to administer the most brutal of cudgellings, a 6-1, 6-2 beatdown that leaves the 22-year-old Italian within one win of dislodging Carlos Alcaraz as world No 2. Through to his third final at Miami Gardens in four years, he will face Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday after the Bulgarian followed up his shock quarter-final win against Alcaraz with a 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 victory over Alexander Zverev.

As Sinner systematically dismantled Medvedev, it was hard to imagine that his defeat in last season’s final was his sixth in succession against the Russian. How things have changed in the interim. Since claiming a maiden win over Medvedev last October in Beijing, Sinner has won five in a row against the 28-year-old, beating him in Vienna, Turin and, most significantly, at the Australian Open in January, where he fought back from two sets to love down to win his first grand slam title.

The last of those meetings had a significant bearing on the early stages of their latest encounter as Medvedev, seeking to replicate the tactics that earned him a seemingly unassailable lead in Melbourne, adopted a more aggressive return position and tried to play higher than normal in the baseline exchanges. What he could not reproduce, in the face of a flawless exhibition of ball-striking from Sinner, was the same quality and consistency of shot he found in Australia. 

After conceding the first five games in just 27 minutes, barely avoiding a first-set whitewash, Medvedev altered his tactics, retreating behind the baseline to return as he sought to create the kind of trench warfare in which he specialises. It did little to stall the momentum of an opponent who has now prevailed in all but one of his 23 matches this season. 

“I played very solid today, especially in the beginning of the sets,” said Sinner. “Then, after, he missed couple of shots where usually he is not missing them. 

“Even if the difference is quite small from one player to the other one, if one plays a little bit better that day and the other player plays a little bit worse, sometimes the difference is big. Today it was like this. 

“But in the other way, you have to be careful, because the score is this one, but if he breaks me early in the first set, or if he breaks me with the break point he had at 2-1 in the second set, things are going to change.”

In truth, that never looked likely. Imperious on serve throughout, Sinner won 80% of the points behind his first delivery and an impressive 59% on the second, fending off all three break points he faced over the 69 minutes that Medvedev was able to detain him. Allied with his superior consistency – the official stats suggested Sinner made just three unforced errors to Medvedev’s nine, although the tournament had those figures at 12 and 22, which may have been closer to the truth – it proved an irresistible combination.

“My plan was to play aggressive kind of like in Australia, a bit more aggressive than I usually do, and it’s always a risk,” said Medvedev. “In Australia it worked well. Here, I was missing too much. 

“Before the second set, the question was, do I go back to playing my style or continue this way? Because if we saw Alcaraz against him in Indian Wells [it] was the same, 6-1, kind of easy, and then Carlos managed to step up and play better and beat Jannik. 

“I was like, ‘No, I want to try to do the same,’ and I didn’t manage to do it. [By the] time I decided to, let’s say, play my game, it was a bit too late.”

Thanks to the resurgent Dimitrov, Sinner will not need to go through Alcaraz this time around. The 32-year-old backed up his win over the Spaniard with another demonstration of quality and resilience against Zverev, his serve the bedrock of a performance awash with power, artistry and athleticism. Dimitrov attributes his renaissance to a rediscovered work ethic.

“I kept on believing, kept on doing the work,” said Dimitrov, who will return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018 next week. “I think the discipline brought me to that moment. There is nothing else.”

A semi-finalist in Shanghai and finalist in Paris towards the end of last year, Dimitrov has been knocking on the door at this level. He won his first title since 2017 at the Brisbane International in January and has earned his place back at the game’s top table. Sinner is under no illusions about the threat that lies ahead.

“He’s very, very talented physically,” said the Italian. “Really good shape. He has the talent to change things up on a tennis court because of the way he plays. He can stand back, he can go close. He has very, very good hand skills. He can do whatever he wants.”

It is Sinner who has become accustomed to doing whatever he wants in recent months. He will go into the final as an unbackable favourite, but if Dimitrov can reproduce the level that has brought three successive top-10 wins this week, a fourth is not out of the question.

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For an hour and a more, he had played second fiddle to Grigor Dimitrov; now, trailing by a set and a break, he was deep in last-chance saloon territory. 

There are few more electrifying sights in tennis than Alcaraz in full flight, and as he unleashed a sequence of three mighty forehands to get back on serve, emitting a full-blooded roar of “Vamos!” into the night sky, it felt like a tipping point. Having apparently turned a corner earlier this month in Indian Wells, where he looked back to his powerful and acrobatic best as he ended an eight-month title drought, the 20-year-old Spaniard was surely on his way.

Except he wasn’t. 

An ace carried Dimitrov within a game of repeating his victory over Alcaraz at last October’s Shanghai Masters, a final flourish of devastating shot-making earned him a fourth and final break, and suddenly the 32-year-old Bulgarian had a second straight win over the Wimbledon champion and a semi-final appointment with Alexander Zverev, who earlier defeated Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5.

“Against him, you cannot really let him hit the ball,” said Dimitrov, the 11th seed, after his 6-2, 6-4 victory. “I think we saw what happened even when I was up a break in the second set, the game he broke me. It was straight up four forehands. Absolutely nothing I could have done. 

“Can I get mad? Yeah, I can. But there was no reason for me to kind of drift away. I just had to stay patient. I was aware of what was happening, how it was happening, and I knew that if I had another chance and opportunity, I could really step in, and that would give me another opportunity.  

“That’s what happened, I think, in the last game. I didn’t pull back. I kept on believing in the game that I was playing and again, the execution was very good.”

On a night when Dimitrov combined relentless aggression and artistry with near-flawless consistency, that felt like an understatement. The Bulgarian was sensational, suffocating Alcaraz’s challenge with his early ball-striking and eagerness to close down the net, forever keeping the world No 2 on the move to deny him time and breathing space. 

For Alcaraz, who came into the contest on a nine-match winning streak, it was a chastening experience. Bidding to become the first man to win the “sunshine double” of Indian Wells and Miami since Roger Federer in 2017, the top seed dropped a combined total of just 15 games en route to the quarter-finals, but could find no answer to an opponent whose tactics and execution touched perfection.

“I have a lot of frustrations right now, because he made me feel like I’m 13 years old,” said Alcaraz. “It was crazy. I was talking to my team, saying that I don’t know what I have to do, I don’t know his weakness. 

“His game was perfect.”

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In a battle of “the 30-plus Gen”, as Djokovic styled it, the world No 1 brought a challenging week to a triumphant conclusion, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 to claim a record-extending seventh title on the outskirts of the French capital.

It will be of little comfort to the chasing pack that the Serb was able to secure his 40th Masters 1000 crown without ever being at his very best. Over the course of a challenging week, Djokovic struggled with a stomach virus and a lower-back injury, and frequently found himself at loggerheads with the Parisian crowd. He was forced to battle through a trio of three-setters to make his ninth final in Bercy, seeing off Tallon Griekspoor, Holger Rune and Andrey Rublev, but against Dimitrov the 24-time grand slam champion proved too solid, making just four unforced errors to his opponent’s 16, and converting three of four break points.

“A very challenging week,” said Djokovic. “I think also off the court, dealing with the stomach virus, which really took a lot of energy out of me. But somehow I managed to find this extra energy when it was most needed, particularly in the days of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, where I was probably closer to losing these matches than winning. 

“Considering what happened in the last six, seven days, this win is definitely one of [my] most special wins in the Masters 1000 category.

“Did I play my best tennis? I don’t think I played my best tennis. In every match, my level was not to the level that I normally would play the biggest tournaments. But it’s one of those weeks where you just have to accept the circumstances and fight to survive another day.”

For Dimitrov, it was an afternoon when delight gave way to despair. On Saturday, the Bulgarian leapt with joy after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his first Masters 1000 final since 2017, when he was crowned champion in Cincinnati. But the former world No 3 struggled to reproduce that form against Djokovic, and afterwards he sat weeping into a towel, perhaps conscious that, at the age of 32, another such opportunity may be a long time coming. 

Such thoughts could not be further from the mind of Djokovic, who will head into the season-ending ATP Finals, which begin a week from now in Turin, on a run of 18 consecutive wins. This was his sixth title of the season, drawing him level with Carlos Alcaraz, and the 97th tournament win of his career, further consolidating his hold on third place in the all-time winners’ list, behind Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109). The win was also his 10th in a row against Dimitrov, who is unlikely to be the last man reduced to tears by the Serb.

There was a touch of class from Djokovic afterwards as he abruptly broke off from a live TV interview to comfort his distraught friend. 

“It’s difficult to explain emotions,” said Dimitrov, whose season has ended in resurgent style after he reached the last eight in Beijing and the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters last month. 

“You want it; it’s tough when it doesn’t happen. Without feeling sorry for myself, only I know what I’ve gone through the past months on and off the court.

“Those are happy tears, I don’t want to have them as something negative. I’m human, after all… In the end, I was so close to making something that I wanted to do for such a long time.”

In a final that brought together the two oldest players in the top 20, Djokovic was clinically efficient. In the seventh game, he converted the only break point of the opening set, a lunging backhand return drawing an unforced error from the 17th-ranked Dimitrov. Serving at 5-4, Djokovic resisted a late surge from the Bulgarian to complete an eight-minute hold. When Dimitrov sent a backhand long to concede a second break in the fifth game of the second set, there would be no way back. 

“The way he’s competing on the court is on a completely different level,” said Dimitrov. “When it comes to those clutch matches, he’s always been able to maximize his game and put you in uncomfortable situations. Today, I think he executed a lot of points and games in a very good way.”

In a season that has brought victory at three of the four majors, and just a single defeat from 33 matches on hard courts, Djokovic’s mastery of that art appears stronger than ever.

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Over the course of a year that has brought an extraordinary recovery from two sets to love down against Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open, and a barely less epic performance against Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon, Murray has shown that, whatever he may have lost to age and a metal hip, his resilience and resourcefulness on the big stage remain undiminished. For once, though, the 36-year-old was unable to pull a rabbit out of the hat, unable to summon an improbable fightback against the odds.

For that, Dimitrov deserves much credit. The Bulgarian, a semi-finalist in New York four years ago, came into the match with a clear game plan and executed it to perfection, using his sliced backhand to deny Murray pace and drawing 45 unforced errors from the 2012 champion in the process. In Dani Vallverdu and Jamie Delgado, Dimitrov has two of Murray’s former coaches on his team; plainly the 32-year-old made full use of their inside knowledge.

“Yeah, of course,” Dimitrov replied when asked in his on-court if his coaches had offered insights into Murray’s game. “But at the same time, they were coaching against me as well [when they were with Murray], so there’s no secrets between the two teams. 

“You have a team around you to help you with everything that you’re going through, whether it’s on or off the court. Unity makes power.”

Murray could certainly have done with such help. “I need something!” he screamed towards his team midway through the set, imploring them to lift him after dropping serve to love with two double faults and a pair of missed forehands. Yet the Scot was often his own worse enemy, conceding his serve at the start of each set and failing to capitalise on the chances that came along on Dimitrov’s delivery. The most notable such opportunity came at the end of a 33-shot rally wide in the eighth game of the second set, when he missed a backhand pass to squander a break point that would have put him back on serve.

A flat performance was followed by a similarly downbeat press conference.

“It’s obviously disappointing to not play how you would like,” said Murray. “Maybe I need to accept that [at] these events, the deep runs and everything that I felt like I’m capable of, they might not be there.  

“I’m aware what I’m doing, it’s unbelievably challenging to play at the highest level as I am now. Some days it’s harder than others. Today is obviously a really disappointing defeat, and probably the manner of it as well. I fought hard enough, but just didn’t play well enough.”

Perhaps surprisingly, after labouring for almost five hours to get past Slovakia’s Alex Molcan in the previous round, Dimitrov looked the fresher of the two. Murray, who won his opener in straight sets against Corentin Moutet of France – albeit in just under three hours – was up against it from the outset and needed all his signature stubbornness merely to avoid falling behind by a double break. Yet, having survived a 15-minute service game, he broke back to level at 2-2 and began to mount some serious resistance. It would not last.

It has been seven years since Murray and Dimitrov last crossed swords, and as the pair took 47 minutes to play the first seven games, it briefly felt as though it might take that long again merely to settle the opening set. Instead, Dimitrov seized control, a fact Murray attributed to a poor serving performance and the fact that he converted only two of his nine break points. Equally perplexing, though, was his failure to come to terms with the tactical challenge.

“It was death by a thousand slices for Andy, because he likes to counter-attack, and he had nothing to work with,” said Martina Navratilova, analysing the effect of Dimitrov’s decision to slice 84% of his backhands in her punditry role for Sky Sports. “He was forced to create the pace.”

Two games from the end, when Murray gestured towards his team to signal that his challenge was over, one half wondered whether his career might also be done. Yet, with his ranking at 37, the highest mark he has achieved since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery four and a half years ago, the Scot is not ready to quit just yet. Murray continues to take pleasure in his craft, although he admitted that could change were his progress to stall.

“I still enjoy everything that goes into playing at a high level,” said Murray. “I enjoy the work. The training and trying to improve and trying to get better, I do still enjoy that, and that’s what keeps me going. 

“If things change and I stop enjoying that, or my results, my ranking and everything, start to go backwards – if, in a few months’ time, I was ranked 60 in the world or whatever instead of moving up – things might change.”

One thing that is most certainly changing, as Murray acknowledged, is the pecking order at the top of the British game. That point was underlined by an impressive 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 win for Britain’s Jack Draper over Hubert Hurkacz, the Polish 17th seed. Draper’s recent return from a three-month injury layoff was thrown into fresh doubt last week when he pulled out of a tournament in Winston-Salem, but on this occasion it was his opponent who struggled. Hurkacz complained of feeling unwell and called for medical attention in the third set, but that is to take nothing away from the strength of Draper’s performance. In Murray’s eyes, the 21-year-old has a stronger claim for inclusion in the British Davis Cup team due to compete in Manchester in less than a fortnight’s time.

“The plan was to play Davis Cup but, if I’m being honest, the other guys deserve to play ahead of me,” said Murray. “I know it’s probably a difficult situation, obviously, for Leon [Smith, the British Davis Cup captain] with Jack. He’s had quite a few injuries coming in, but if he’s fit and healthy, he’s obviously playing very well. 

“Cam [Norrie] and [Dan Evans], you know, Evo has had a great run in Washington. So we’ll see about Davis Cup and what happens there. I think there is probably a chance that I’m not on the team.”

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Novak Djokovic made his latest impression on the record books, resisting a spirited challenge from Australia’s Jordan Thompson to join Roger Federer and Serena Williams in the ultra-exclusive club of players with 350 or more grand slam wins.

Iga Swiatek, perhaps forgetting that she was playing on a grass court at Wimbledon rather than a clay court at Roland Garros, steamrollered Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo for the loss of just two games. 

Daniil Medvedev, the third seed, notched up a tour-leading 42nd win of the season with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Arthur Fery, a net-rushing 20-year-old Brit making his grand slam debut.

Such is the charmed life of the tournament’s top seeds, scheduled under the retractable roofs of Centre and No 1 Courts and thus sequestered from the vagaries of the British summer time. 

“I’m happy that my matches were scheduled under the roof, so I always was certain that it’s going to actually happen,” said Swiatek, the world No 1 and top seed. “It’s a little bit easier to prepare knowing that. 

“I would still be ready anyway if my match was suspended or something, [but] for sure it’s more comfortable. I would say you have this normal grand slam rhythm with one day off, one day of playing matches.”

Others were less fortunate. Outside, the rainfall that has blighted the opening days of the fortnight continued. The start of play was pushed back. And back, and back. When the skies finally cleared, Maria Sakkari, the Greek eighth seed, stormed through the opening set against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. Then the heavens opened once again. On the resumption of play, Sakkari was bundled out 0-6, 7-5, 6-2. 

She wasn’t the only high-profile casualty. Karolina Pliskova, a finalist in SW19 two years ago, was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Serbia’s Natalija Kostic, a qualifier ranked 225.

But the most notable action took place out on Court 18, where play was twice interrupted by environmental protesters. The first incident occurred when a man and a woman ran on to the grass in the early stages of Grigor Dimitrov’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win over Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro, spreading orange confetti and pieces of a Wimbledon jigsaw puzzle over the playing surface. 

“Obviously it’s not pleasant,” said Dimitrov. “There is not much you can do. I think everyone in a way did their part as quick as possible.

“Rain was coming, so it was also a little bit fortunate to come off the court and have some time to, you know, kind of like regroup a little bit.”

No sooner had the All England Club issued a statement confirming that the offenders had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage, than a second incident occurred. With Daria Saville leading Britain’s Katie Boulter 4-2 in a first-set tiebreak, a man ran on to the court and performed an identical act. He too was arrested.

This time, the incident had more significant ramifications. On the resumption of play, Saville did not win another point in the tiebreak, going on to lose in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

“It was upsetting,” said the Australian. “I was like ‘Oh, my God, why on my court out of all of them?’ I’m the worst with being able to refocus. 

“I’ve always struggled with concentration, so it’s probably the toughest circumstances I have had to deal with.”

Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas survived an epic against Dominic Thiem in a match that was halted by rain midway through the second set on Tuesday. The Greek fifth seed prevailed 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (10-8) in three hours and 56 minutes to set up a blockbuster meeting with Andy Murray, the two-time former champion.

“He’s someone that I respect,” said Tsitsipas. “Obviously he’s older than me. He has done great things in tennis. I’m looking forward to this match. I hope there’s plenty for me to learn.  

“Regardless of the outcome, I feel like I really want to go out there and give it a shot and aim for being super strong and disciplined in that match, because it will require lots of that. If I’m in there persistent and focused on my goal, I feel like anything is possible.”

Whatever the outcome, it promises to be a more amicable affair than the fiery first-round encounter between the pair at the 2021 US Open, where Murray was incensed after Tsitsipas took two lengthy, momentum-breaking bathroom breaks. The players resolved their differences at last year’s Laver Cup, where they were team-mates.

“I think it has been settled already a long time ago,” said Tsitsipas, who lost in straight sets to Murray in their only other meeting, which came on grass in Stuttgart last summer. 

“We had to play Laver Cup together in the same team. I’ve forgotten about it. He has forgotten about it.”

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Five times an ATP Masters champion but without a win in three previous visits to Rome, Medvedev finally broke his duck with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Emil Ruusuvuori that was more complicated than the score-line would suggest. 

While Medvedev received a bye into the second round by virtue of his seeded status, Ruusuvuori, ranked 40 places below the Russian world No 3 but accomplished enough to push Carlos Alcaraz to a deciding set at the Madrid Open last month, toiled for three gruelling hours to make his way past Ugo Humbert. Yet whatever the Finn lacked in freshness he more than made up for in match sharpness and familiarity with the slower conditions in Rome and, when the 24-year-old raced into an early lead, it looked as though Medvedev’s debut in Stadio Nicola Pietrangeli would be an unhappy one.

With three games gone, Medvedev had made nine unforced errors to his opponent’s one and was yet to make an impression on the scoreboard. Tellingly, however, Ruusuvuori was doing nothing particularly out of the ordinary. He produced some nice variations of pace and height but, on a surface where Medvedev is never entirely at home, Ruusuvuori’s most telling weapon was an ability to keep the ball in play. That, of course, is traditionally the Russian’s forte, and slowly he began to find his groove, applying more topspin to his forehand and beginning to move more comfortably. 

“It was a little bit [of a relief],” said Medvedev of his maiden win beneath the iconic Carrara marbles. “We can talk about all of the matches I lost here, they were different. One of them, the first one [against Robin Haase of the Netherlands in 2018], I feel like I should have won.

“But it [what it is], every time I come to a tournament I know that I can play well, so I’m happy to finally get the win here in Rome.”

It might have been a different story had Ruusuvuori not narrowly failed to angle away a makeable drop volley that would have given him a break point for 4-0. Instead, Medvedev held and dropped just two more points as he rattled through the next two games to level the set. With the rallies lengthening and Ruusuvuori’s mistakes mounting, the momentum shifted irretrievably. Ruusuvuori would end the contest with 32 unforced errors, Medvedev with a tour-leading 32nd match win of the season.

“I want to win as many matches as possible, I know it can be a little bit trickier for me on clay, but honestly this year I’m playing really well,” said Medvedev, who will face Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in round three.

“The matches I lost, I lost against great opponents who played actually just better than me, and not much to say. I’m doing my absolute best, I’m playing good, I already beat a lot of good opponents. I beat Emil last week [in Madrid], one of only two players who won a set against Carlos [Alcaraz], so I’m feeling great and I’m just looking forward to try to play my best tennis till the end of the clay season.”

Novak Djokovic also weathered some difficult moments as he claimed a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, led by a set and 4-2 before Dimitrov reeled off four consecutive games to level the match. The situation briefly rekindled memories of Djokovic’s loss to Lorenzo Musetti in Monte Carlo, where the Serb led by an identical score-line. There was to be no repeat on this occasion, however, a double fault costing Dimitrov an immediate break after Djokovic had set up the opportunity with a beautifully constructed rally. 

“Playing Grigor is always a challenge,” said Djokovic, who will face Cameron Norrie, the British 13th seed, in round three. 

“I know that he’s going to deliver his quality. He is one of the most talented players on the tour, without a doubt, for many years.  

“Towards the end of the second set, he showed what he’s capable of. He started to raise the level. He obviously had a good support of the crowd. The momentum shifted to his side. I was set and 4-2 up, had chances to close out the match, but I didn’t.  

“I was very pleased that I managed to find again the right rhythm in the first game of the third set right away. That was super important to make a break early and kind of hold things under control.”

Norrie was detained in similar fashion, finding himself drawn into a dogfight after leading Marton Fucsovics, the world No 92, by a set and 5-1. The Hungarian saved six match points before Norrie, the British 13th seed, prevailed 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). 

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Stalked by a lingering hamstring problem, Novak Djokovic grimaced, frowned and battled his way to a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov, refusing to miss, relentlessly efficient on serve, determined to find a way. Dimitrov, still flamboyant after all these years, was the fresher of body but foggier of mind, spraying 50 unforced errors when the clear imperative against an opponent who required medical treatment for a second successive match was to keep the ball between the lines.

A short limp away, over on Margaret Court Arena, Roberto Bautista Agut was doing exactly that. Ever the embodiment of consistency, the Spaniard stuck to his guns against a hobbled Andy Murray, forever forcing the struggling Scot to make one more ball, to chase one more lost cause. Murray laboured valiantly to defy the debilitating effects of his marathon wins over Matteo Berrettini and Thanasi Kokkinakis, but he was unable to produce a third straight feat of escapology, falling to a 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-4 defeat.

Time’s passage is no friend of the professional athlete, and this Australian Open may yet come to be seen as a tipping point for the old guard. Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Murray – who of course has the added disadvantage of a metal hip – have all faced physical challenges over the past week. Their struggles have been emphasised by the charge of youth. Only four of the 16 players left standing are over the age of 25, suggesting that tennis might finally be becoming a young man’s game once again.

Predictably, Djokovic is having none of it.

“Thirty-five is the new 25,” the nine-time champion told Jelena Dokic in his on-court interview. “Look at Rafa, look at Andy. They’re all playing an extremely high level. I’m trying to do the same.

“Every season counts now, when you come to the last stage of your career. You start appreciating and valuing every single tournament more, because you know that you might not have too many left in the tank.”

Nobody will appreciate that sentiment more keenly than Murray, who feared he had played his last match after losing to Bautista Agut in the opening round four years ago. His pessimism followed some downbeat medical bulletins about his hip, including one from a doctor who unwisely informed him that he would never play professional sport again. “I think we dispelled that myth the last five days,” Murray wrote on social media after his defeat, revealing a chance meeting with the aforementioned medical Nostradamus a couple of days earlier.

Murray has shown emphatically in Melbourne that he remains a force in the final phase of his career. His draw was almost as brutal as the 4am finish against Kokkinakis that he branded a “farce”, and which subsequently sparked a heated debate about the tournament’s scheduling, but he was defiant – and, more importantly, competitive – until the final ball. It has been a Herculean effort, especially after Murray revealed that he slept for only three hours after his titanic victory over Kokkinakis, before hauling himself out of bed to get “seven or eight” blisters drained. 

Bautista Agut, one of the closest approximations to a human backboard the sport can offer, was one of the last men Murray would have wished to meet under the circumstances. For a while, it seemed Murray would be rapidly vanquished. With the Scot moving gingerly and struggling on serve, the opening set slipped by in under half an hour. 

But as his battered body begrudgingly clunked into something more closely resembling life, so his spirit rose – and his game with it. From a break down, Murray recovered to force a second set tiebreak, which he clinched after saving two set points, harnessing the energy of a crowd that had been firmly behind the five-time finalist from the outset. It couldn’t last, and over the next two sets Murray was frequently to be found limping or bent double between points, his body no longer willing to take him where his will demanded. 

“Serving was the thing that was giving me the most trouble,” said Murray. “My back was uncomfortable. I couldn’t really extend on my serves. I couldn’t hit a kick serve. I couldn’t really extend my back on the serve to generate much power on the first serve. Wasn’t able to really drive up to it. That was the thing that was uncomfortable.”

There was plenty of discomfort for Djokovic, too, although in the Serb’s case serving was a source of salvation. For all the limitations of his movement, Djokovic landed an impressive 72% of his first serves, winning almost three-quarters of the points that followed. The rubber-limbed acrobatics that are his calling card were notable for their absence, but so far the 21-time grand slam champion is manging his physical shortcomings admirably, just as he did when marching to the title two years ago while nursing a torn abdominal muscle.

“It kind of always starts well,” said Djokovic, “and then some movement happens and it gets worse. Pills kick in, some hot cream and stuff. That works for a little bit, then it doesn’t, then works again. 

“It’s really a roller coaster, honestly. It requires a lot of energy that is being spent from my side mentally – and physically, as well – to deal with the match with my opponent, and also with [a less than] ideal physical state. But it is what it is, circumstances that you have to accept.”

Control what you can, accept what you must, leave it all out there. Such is the mantra of the ageing champion. As Murray reflected, it is all anyone can do.

“I feel like I gave everything that I had to this event,” said Murray. “So I’m proud of that.  That is really, in whatever you’re doing, all you can do. You can’t always control the outcome. You can’t control how well you’re going to play, or the result. 

“You can control the effort that you put into it, and I gave everything that I had the last three matches.”

It is what he has done throughout his career, and what Djokovic will do for as long as he remains in Melbourne.

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Having already displaced Dan Evans as British No 1 by dint of his quarter-final victory over Diego Schwartzman, it has been quite the week for Norrie. Dimitrov, a former world No 3 who knows what it is to lift the ATP Finals trophy, was thoroughly outclassed by Norrie, who showed no sign of nerves as he closed in on his first Masters 1000 final. 

“I was just going out there and playing my game and making the rallies long,” said Norrie, the 21st seed. “Honestly, not once I was thinking about it. When I went to serve for the match, I was like, ‘This is definitely a big service game here.’ I was a little bit nervous. But I came out and I served great. I think it helped with the new balls. 

“I was just really in the present moment and wasn’t really thinking too much. I was enjoying my tennis and playing.”

It showed. Dimitrov is not the first player to struggle with Norrie’s singular combination of a heavy topspin forehand and a pancake-flat backhand, and he is unlikely to be the last. There were shades of Nadal-Federer in the way the British southpaw repeatedly drew his opponent wide on the forehand before peppering his one-handed backhand with high, kicking balls that neutralised Dimitrov’s attacking threat. 

Allied with his relentless focus and consistency, not to mention a Rafa-like ability to run all day, Norrie’s tactics were too much for Dimitrov. The 30-year-old had already endured gruelling three-setters against Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz to make the semi-finals, and this looked a match too far from the outset.

Just as he had done against Schwartzman in the previous round, Norrie raced into a commanding early lead. Four games passed before Dimitrov finally made an impression on the scoreboard, at which point Norrie made a rare misstep, gifting Dimitrov a break with a sequence of unforced errors. 

Norrie’s response was indicative not only of the mindset that has now brought him 46 victories this season, but also the self-belief those triumphs have instilled. There was no hint of panic, no suggestion that he might alter a winning strategy, but rather a quiet determination to continue about his business. The reward was swift, Dimitrov missing two consecutive forehands from 30-all in the next game. With his double-break advantage restored, Norrie served out the set to love.

Now Dimitrov abandoned his efforts to drive through his backhand, instead going to the slice in an effort to keep the ball low on Norrie’s forehand. It made no difference, Norrie once again seizing an early break. Dimitrov’s best chance to regain a foothold in the contest came and went in the fourth game, where Norrie responded to losing a 33-shot rally with an ace before saving a break point with a powerful surge into the forecourt. By the end, Dimitrov had resorted to trying to take his backhand on the half-volley; again, it was to no avail.

In the second semi-final, Basilashvili came through 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 against Taylor Fritz to reach his first Masters 1000 final. The 36th-ranked Georgian, who saved three set points in the opener, expects a tough test against Norrie.

“He’s not so nice to play with from the baseline,” said Basilashvili, the 29th seed. “He’s been playing really, really smart and very good tennis. I’m looking forward. If I can play my game and be relaxed, I think I can play well.”

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