Aus Open: Djokovic vs Tsitipas in the finals

stands on the brink of a record-extending 10th Australian Open title after he overcame a patchy start to defeat Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park. The Serbian struggled to find his best level at times during his maiden tour-level meeting with the American, but that did not apply to his trademark razor-sharp returning. Despite dropping four straight games from 5-1 to let Paul back into the opening set on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic ultimately converted seven of 11 break points to move within one win of equalling Rafael Nadal’s tally of 22 major crowns. Djokovic’s two-hour, 20-minute win set a championship match clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who earlier defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. Sunday’s final will also be a straight shootout for No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with the winner set to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz into top spot on Monday. “Of course it [adds extra significance],” said Djokovic, who leads Tsitsipas 10-2 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. “Winning Grand Slams and being the No. 1 in the world are probably the two biggest peaks that you can climb as a professional tennis player. Let’s see what happens.”