At 9:30 a.m., the second semi-final of the Australian Open Championship will begin in Melbourne, in which Serbian ace Novak Djokovic and American Tommy Paul will compete. The Greek Stefanos Tsicipas has already qualified for the final.
Djokovic and Paul will compete for the first time in history. Đoković earned his place in the semi-finals with victories over the Spaniard To Roberto Carballes Baeno (6:3, 6:4 and 6:0), to the French Enzo Couacaud (6:1, 6:7, 6:2 and 6:0), to the Bulgarians Grigor Dimitrov (7:6, 6:3 and 6:4) and to the Australians Alex de Minaur (6:2, 6:1 and 6:2). In the quarter-finals, he made quick work of the Russian Andrei Rublev (6:1, 6:2 and 6:4).
Paul had a slightly more difficult task, beating the German for the introduction to the tournament by Jan-Lennard Struff (6:1, 7:6 and 6:2), then eliminated the 30th seed, the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with 6:2, 2:6, 6:7, 6:3 and 6:4. In the American showdown, he was then better than by JT Brooksby (6:1, 6:4 and 6:3), in the round of 16 from the Spaniard Robert Bautista Agut (6:2, 4:6, 6:2 and 7:5). He won the semi-final ticket with a victory over his compatriot Ben Sheltonit was 7:6, 6:3, 5:7 and 6:4.
Tsicipas to the second final of his careerThe winner will face the Greek in the grand final Stefanos Tsicipas, the third seed of the tournament. He was well on his way to the final against the Russian Karen Hačanov, but then he made his job a bit more difficult by losing the third set, in which he had two opportunities to win. However, he quickly took a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, had no more problems with the opening shot, kept his opponent at a safe distance all the time and qualified for the final after three hours and 21 minutes. This will be his second Grand Slam final in his career, the first after Roland Garros 2021, when he had to concede superiority to Djokovic.
Nadal will be out for at least two months
“I had tests at a clinic in Barcelona and they confirmed the diagnosis from Melbourne, so the recovery time remained the same,” Nadal wrote on Twitter, but he will not need surgery. “We will do additional examinations in three weeks and then we will see how everything is healing,” added the record holder of men’s tennis with 22 Grand Slams, who will celebrate his 37th birthday in June. If he is fit enough then, he could be chasing his 15th French Open title. (are)
Australian Open 2023, Melbourne
(US$18,718,600, hard base)
Semi-Finals: CICIPAS (GREECE/3) – HACHANOV (RUS/18) 7:6 (2), 6:4, 6:7 (6), 6:3
At 9:30 a.m.: ÐOKOVIC (SRB/4) – PAUL (USA)
Source: Rtvslo
