Daniil Medvedev books Novak Djokovic final at Australian Open after brushing aside Stefanos Tsitsipas

Daniil Medvedev is through to his second Grand Slam final
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George Flood19 February 2021

Daniil Medvedev will face Novak Djokovic in the men’s Australian Open final this weekend.

The Russian eased into the Melbourne showpiece with a dominant 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Friday’s semi-final tie at Rod Laver Arena - his 20th consecutive win.

Sunday will mark Medvedev’s second appearance in a Grand Slam final, with the world No4 having previously been beaten in a thrilling five-setter by Rafael Nadal at the US Open in 2019.

Standing between the 25-year-old and a maiden major title is the formidable figure of top seed Djokovic, who breezed through to his ninth Australian Open final on Thursday by easily defeating Medvedev’s compatriot and qualifier Aslan Karatsev.

The world No1 - who has never lost an Australian Open final - is aiming for a record-extending ninth Melbourne title that would take him up to 18 majors overall, two shy of Nadal and Roger Federer.

While Friday’s triumph may have looked relatively straightforward from the outside, Medvedev said Tsitsipas’ stunning quarter-final win over Nadal - in which he overturned a two-set deficit - still gave him cause for concern.

“(It was) definitely not easy. (Tsitsipas’) match with Rafa was kind of the same score in the first two sets, third set Rafa was dominating so I got a little bit scared and tight because it’s the semi-final of a slam,” he said during his on-court interview afterwards.

“For us it’s not the 50th like for Novak or Roger so it was not easy but I’m happy I managed to turn my game on, especially in some tough moments on my serve and really happy to be in the final.”

Djokovic and Medvedev have met on seven previous occasions on the ATP Tour, with the Serbian winning all of their first three meetings - including a last-16 tie at the Australian Open in 2019.

Djokovic also won at the inaugural ATP Cup last year, though Medvedev has beaten him three times in the last two years - most recently at the ATP Finals in London in November.

He also came out on top in their semi-final clash at the Cincinnati Masters in 2019 and in the last-eight at the Monte Carlo Masters earlier that year.

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