MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (NNN-AAP) – An indefatigable Novak Djokovic, produced one of the best victories of his legendary career, after coming from two sets to one down to end Jannik Sinner’s bid for a third straight Australian Open title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a classic semifinal that finished at almost 1:30 a.m. today, the 38-year-old was on his knees in an emotional celebration, after prevailing 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in four hours and nine minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An aggressive Djokovic defied his advancing age with strong serving and formidable groundstrokes, to book a place in today’s final against top seed Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a match that was equally as high quality and nerve-jangling as the earlier five-set semifinal between Alcaraz and third seed Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It feels surreal, the level of intensity and quality of tennis was extremely high. I knew that was the only way I could beat him,” Djokovic said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Djokovic was in the unusual position of being an underdog on a court where he has lifted the trophy a record 10 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he entered refreshed having had a walkover in the fourth round after 16th seed Jakub Mensik pulled out injured before fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti retired hurt having led two sets to love in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trailing two sets to one, a flagging Djokovic appeared down and out, until breathing life into the contest with a break to start the fourth set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the clock ticking past midnight, Djokovic stared down Sinner with a vintage performance to force a deciding set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Serb was under a barrage from a rejuvenated Sinner until gaining control, when he broke in the seventh game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinner fashioned eight break points but will rue being unable to convert any of them as Djokovic sealed an unforgettable victory on his third match point.– NNN-AAP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (NNN-AAP) – An indefatigable Novak Djokovic, produced one of the best victories of his legendary career, after coming from two sets to one down to end Jannik Sinner’s bid for a third straight Australian Open title. In a classic semifinal that finished at almost 1:30 a.m. today, the 38-year-old was on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":323554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,209,190],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323555,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552\/revisions\/323555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/323554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}