Sinner ends Djokovic Grand Slam history bid

MELBOURNE: Jannik Sinner ended Novak Djokovic´s bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title on Friday, snapping the Serb´s astonishing 33-match winning run at Melbourne Park to set up a final against Daniil Medvedev.

The Italian fourth seed was unfazed by dropping his first set of the tournament against the king of Rod Laver Arena, winning the semi-final 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.

Russian third seed Medvedev rallied from two sets down for the second time in the tournament to beat Alexander Zverev and make Sunday´s title match.

Ten-time champion Djokovic fought off a match point in the third-set tie-break but racked up 54 unforced errors and failed to create a single break point in an sub-par display by his stellar standards.

“It was a very tough match,” said Sinner. “I started off really well. He missed in the first two sets. I felt like he was not feeling that great on court so I just tried to keep pushing.

“Then in the third set I had match point and I missed the forehand but this is tennis. I just tried to be ready for the next set, which I started off really well.”

Sinner, 22, said he felt he had learned from defeat to Djokovic in last year´s Wimbledon semi-finals -- the furthest he had previously gone at a Grand Slam -- and had been looking forward to the match.

“I think we play really similar -- you have to return as many balls as possible, he´s such an incredible server,” he said. “So I was just trying to push him around a little bit. I´m not going to tell you the tactics.”

Djokovic admitted he was “outplayed” by a man 14 years his junior.

“I was, in a way, shocked with my level, you know, in a bad way,” he said. “There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets.

“I guess this is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I´ve ever played, at least that I remember.”