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A surprise spot in the Australian Open final is on the line, as rivals Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev square off for a title shot few expected them to earn. Follow live!
While Medvedev is the No.3 seed and a two-time finalist at Melbourne Park, few had him amongst the top tier of contenders for the 2024 crown, putting him behind Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
But Alcaraz’ shock quarter-finals loss to No.6 seed Zverev, and Djokovic and Sinner facing off in the other semi-final, leaves a place in the final up for grabs for tonight’s winner.
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Arguably the greatest player with just one slam to his name this century, Medvedev has previously played five semi-finals on hard courts and won four, only losing at the 2020 US Open to eventual champion Dominic Thiem.
Zverev is the exact opposite, making six career slam semi-finals but winning just one, at the 2020 US Open when he downed surprise opponent Pablo Carreno Busta, before losing from two sets up against Thiem.
Medvedev through to Aus Open Semi Final | 00:56
A Zverev victory would also be an awkward one for the Australian Open given he is playing under the cloud of a second set of domestic violence accusations and a looming trial in Germany.
Medvedev has dominated Zverev in their recent meetings amid a simmering feud, headlined by their clash in Monte Carlo last year when Zverev declared Medvedev “one of the most unfair players in the world”.
The winner will face Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final.
Zverev stuns Alcaraz to lock down semis | 02:07
Alexander Zverev moved a step closer to his second grand slam final by claiming the opening set 7-5 over third seed Daniil Medvedev in their Australian Open semi-final.
Medvedev, who has had much greater success than Zverev both at this tournament and deep in slams more broadly, looked the more nervous of the pair as he was broken twice in the opening 15 minutes.
Double-faulting four times across two service games allowed Zverev to leap out to a 4-1 lead, before Medvedev dragged a break back in one of the tightest games of the match to that point.
But after holding off a Medvedev challenge at 4-3, Zverev truly wobbled, his first serve abandoning him and a series of errors – including one in a 34-shot rally which saw Nick Kyrgios quip on Eurosport commentary “I nearly fell asleep” – allowing the Russian to level things up at 5-5.
In an eerie repeat, a marathon rally at 30-30 went the returner’s way in the ensuing game giving Zverev a break-back opportunity, before a lucky net cord set up a game-winning lob for the German to lead 6-5.
Having struggled on serve in previous games Zverev appeared to regain his composure, before losing it again, as a trio of errors made it 30-40.
The break point was saved but yet another lengthy baseline rally ended in Zverev sending a simple smash into the net; he returned to the net on his second serve but this time the ball landed safely.
Zverev appeared to figure, if he’d worked out the secret, why not go again as an absurd rally ended with a simple chip over the net for set point. A fourth point won at the net gave Zverev the set as he pointed to his ear, enjoying a surprising amount of support.
Both players expressed frustrations with their player box throughout, with Zverev’s father responding to his son at one point in a scene Todd Woodbridge noted “you hardly ever hear”.
Follow Daniil Medvedev vs Alexander Zverev in our live blog below!
DAY 13 ORDER OF PLAY (all times AEDT)
Rod Laver Arena
Men’s Semi-Final, Not Before 7:30pm
No.3 Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs No.6 Alexander Zverev (GER)
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