Novak Djokovic has continued his domination on Rod Laver Arena. Since he won his first Australian Open title in 2008 each time he has reached the final he has walked off as champion.

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This time Djokovic faced Dominic Thiem. The Austrian searching for his first Grand Slam title at his third attempt, Djokovic aiming for his eighth at Melbourne Park.

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Djokovic came out firing. He broke the fifth seed in the second game for a 2-0 lead and then consolidated the break for 3-0. Thiem held for 3-1. Another hold for the Serbian second seed and it was 4-1.

Thiem who had defeated world no. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals then started firing and he was able to break Djokovic in the seventh game to get back on serve. Thiem would then hold to level the score at 4-4.

Djokovic held easily before applying the pressure to Thiem as he jumped out to 0-30. Thiem would get to 30-30 before his third unforced error game Djokovic a set point. He was able to save that and go to game point before back-to-back unforced errors gave Djokovic a set point, this time he converted.

In the second set it was Thiem that had the early 3-1 lead and as in the first set the person in the lead would be pegged back to see the scores at 4-4.

Just when you thought Djokovic was getting on top he stumbled and Thiem levelled the match at a set all.

Djokovic was looking a bit off. He would stumble a bit at times and wasn’t sure footed. He was given warnings for taking too much time on serve and he also had the doctor provide treatment. The second time violation saw him lose a first serve and this rattled the Serb.

The defending champion pretty much gave away the third set as Thiem claimed it 6-2 to got to a two sets to one advantage.

In the fourth set Djokovic was looking his old self. His serve had improved and he was relentless from the back of the court.

Djokovic got a key break in the eighth game of the fourth set, helped by a Thiem double fault.

As the match moved into a fifth set the question was about the fatigue factor for Thiem. He had spent a lot more time on court to reach the final.

Thiem for a short period seemed to be feeling the effects of another five setter, he wasn’t pounding the ball with the same impact as earlier in the match. Just when you thought he was gone the Austrian stepped it up a level and was competing hard.

In the third game Djokovic made his move. Thiem hit four unforced errors to concede the game. Thiem looked to break back immediately however Djokovic fought off two break points to maintain his one break advantage.

That was the last break point opportunity that Thiem would see. Djokovic held on to claim his eighth Australian Open title and he also secured the no. 1 rank in men’s tennis.

“I would like to start by saying congratulations to Dominic for an amazing tournament,” said Djokovic, during the on-court ceremony. “It wasn’t meant to be tonight. Tough luck and it was a tough match, but you were very close to winning it and you definitely have a lot more time in your career and I’m sure that you will get one of the Grand Slam trophies. More than one.”

Thiem served 13 Aces to 9, double faults were 5-5. The 1st serve percentage was almost even with Djokovic serving at 64% and Thiem at 63%.

Both players won five from 12 break points. The winners were 55 for Thiem and 46 for Djokovic. Unforced errors were 57 for both players.

35-year-old Rajeev Ram from the USA and 27-year-old Joe Salisbury from Great Britain have denied Max Purcell and Luke Saville from becoming the first Australian pairing to claim an Australian Open title since 1997 when Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde lifted the winners trophy.
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Ram and Salisbury constantly had their Australian opponents on the back foot as they were fighting off break points.

The American-British duo had eight break points in the first set before they finally converted before sealing the first set in 42 minutes.

They quickly broke in the second set and raced to a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Purcell and Saville had only one win at this level before being awarded a wild card to compete.

The Australian’s success in doubles will help boost their singles ambitions as that is their main priority.

“It’s been great fun to share the court with a really good mate,” said Saville.

“And to win five matches at a Grand Slam, it’s amazing. It wasn’t the result we wanted today. We played well first round, to knock off the eighth seeds in the second round in an epic was amazing.

“Probably the semi [was a highlight], to come from a set down against the fourth seeds, and even our third round, on Show Court 3, on Australia Day, was a joke.

“Just the whole week. We even played pretty well in the singles. Maxie qualified, which was huge for him as well. I lost second round in a heartbreaker which was tough. But we can really build on this Aussie Open, honestly, it’s been a roller coaster, it’s been long few weeks for us, we’re gonna take a few days to digest the result. It really sets up our year, honest.”

Ram will be ranked at no. 5 and Salisbury at no. 4. Saville jumps to no. 38 and Purcell will be at no. 40.

USA’s Sofia Kenin has come from nowhere to win the 2020 Australian Open women’s singles title.

The 20-year-old defeated Spain’s former world no. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza. The final score was 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

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Unfortunately the match was ended following a Muguruza double-fault.

“My dream has officially come true. I cannot even describe this feeling,” Kenin said at the trophy presentation after the match.

“It is so emotional and I have worked so hard. I am just so grateful to be standing here. Dreams come true so if you have a dream, go for it and it will come true.”

The key moment came at 2-2 in the third set with Kenin serving at 0-40. She responded brilliantly hitting winners close to the sidelines to escape that game.

Kenin would then break the Spaniard and from there she stormed home to break again when Muguruza served a double-fault.

21-year-old Max Purcell and 26-year-old Luke Saville are the first Australian pairing to reach the Australian Open doubles final since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde back in 1998.

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The Woodies would lose the 1998 final in five sets to Jonas Bjorkman and Jacco Eltingh. Woodbridge would later team up with Bjorkman and win five Grand Slam doubles titles together after Woodforde retired.

Purcell and Saville had won just once before at this level when they won a first round match at the 2018 Australian Open.

The Aussies defeated the no. 4 seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4.

They had two set points in the opening set Tiebreaker but could not convert.

Purcell and Saville jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set and they went on to level the match at one set all after claiming the set 6-3.

The Australian pairing again broke early in the deciding set only to concede the break in the next game. The broke in the fifth game to lead 3-2 and held for 4-2.

The Croatian-Slovakian pairing would hold and then break to level the scores at 4-4 however the Australian’s hit back to break and then serve out the match to reach the final.

The majority of their time is spent playing on the ATP Challenger tour where they have won seven doubles titles together in 2019 and they started 2020 winning the Apis Canberra doubles title, also on the Challenger tour.

“It is still sinking in that’s for sure. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster the whole week, honestly. Now we’re sitting in a slam final,” Saville said after the pair booked their place in the final.

“We are thrilled. We knew our level was good, but this is definitely a bit of a surprise.

“We hadn’t too many tour level matches together and now we are sitting in a final. If we could get the title it would be enormous, but we are proud of what we have achieved so far this week.”

The Australian pair will face the no. 11 seeds of Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (UK).

Australia’s world no. 1 Ash Barty held two set points in the first and second sets only to see unforced errors and the fighting spirit of Sofia Kenin steal the Australian’s dream of winning a home Grand Slam.

The first set went to a tie breaker and Barty held two set points at 6-4. An unforced error conceded the first and a Kenin winner saved the next. Kenin went on a four point run to steal the first set.

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Barty had held three break points in the sixth game only to see Kenin hold her nerve and keep the pressure on Barty.

The match was played in oppressive conditions with the temperature close to 40C. The heat index was at 4.9 which is just below the 5 needed to close the roof. This perhaps would have favoured Barty.

Barty adjusted her game in the second set to use a lot more of her backhand slice and draw out errors from Kenin or wait for the moment she could step in with a big forehand.

That seemed to be paying dividends as Barty broke for a 2-1 lead. The Australian then held serve until she was served to level the match at 5-4.

Barty looked in control at 40-15 before a winner from Kenin saved one set point and then a Barty unforced error saw the game at deuce. A few points later Kenin would get the crucial break.

The American then held serve to pile on the pressure for Barty.

The world no. 1 fell behind 0-30 before hitting a winner to get back to 15-30 only to hit an unforced error to give Kenin a match point opportunity.

Another long rally followed and Barty kept the match alive with a winner for 30-40 but then the hopes of the nation were shattered as Barty sent a shot well over the baseline to hand Kenin a 7-6(6), 7-5 victory.

Kenin is into her first Grand Slam final and will face either Garbine Muguruza or Simona Halep, both are two-time Grand Slam winners.

Barty let herself down with too many unforced winners. She had 36 to Kenin’s 25 and her winners count was 33 to 16.

The wait continues for an Australian to win their home Grand Slam.

With Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem setting up a NextGen semifinal could we finally see a player other than the big three lifting a Grand Slam trophy?

Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open was the last player outside of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to claim a Grand Slam singles title.

Wawrinka went down to Zverev 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The 22-year-old German reaching his first semifinal at this level.

26 year-old Thiem then guaranteed a younger player will be in the final when he upset Nadal 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6).

The other side of the draw sees Djokovic facing Federer. Djokovic the defending champion has seven titles to his name at the Australian Open while Federer is a six-time champion.

On each occasion Djokovic has reached the semifinals in Melbourne he has gone on to lift the winner’s trophy. Federer has fallen at the semifinal stage on seven occasions.

Tonight will most likely see Djokovic despatch Federer to reach another Australian Open final. It is their fourth semifinal clash at this tournament and fifth in total with Djokovic winning in all of the semis and Federer claiming a R16 clash back in 2007, Federer going on to win the title. The H2H is 26-23 to Djokovic.

Federer is lucky to even be in the semis after he escaped from 8-4 down in the match tiebreaker against John Millman in the third round and then he snuck past Tennys Sandgren after facing seven break points as well as struggling with injury.

Tomorrow night will see Thiem face off against Zverev. Thiem holds a 6-2 H2H advantage with two wins coming at the French Open 2018 and 2016.

Thiem has twice lost to Nadal at Roland Garros on the final day. Zverev is playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal with back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in 2018-19 at the French Open being his best results at this level.

Both players had to fight hard to reach the semis but have two days to recover.

After a poor start to the year with his serving Zverev has found his groove and has served a lot less double faults after really struggling a few weeks ago.

I am tipping Djokovic to advance to another Australian Open final and then on Friday night it will be too close to call although I will say that I think Zverev will advance.

Either way it will be a big three player against a younger player and I think we will still be waiting for someone outside of the big three to claim a Grand Slam singles title as I am tipping Djokovic will claim his eighth Australian Open title.

Two Aussie battlers are into the Australian Open doubles final.

28-year-old Luke Saville and 21-year-old Max Purcell defeated Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Great Britain’s Ken Skupski 6-2, 6-4.

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The Australian’s did not face a break point and converted 3 of 7 to claim the victory.

The Australian pairing spend most of their time battling it out on the ATP Challenger tour and received a wildcard to play at the Australian Open.

They did go into the tournament with some form on the board after having claimed the Apis Canberra International doubles title which was played in Bendigo due to the smoke haze that had blanketed Canberra in early January.

In 2019 Saville and Purcell also won ATP Challenger titles in Traralgon, Binghamton, Seoul, Anning, Zhangjiagang, Launceston and Playford. This has built their rankings to no. 82 for Saville and no. 88 for Purcell.

They definitely are a top team at the Challenger level. They have however grabbed with both hands their opportunity at the Grand Slam level to reach the semifinals.

The pairing had played two previous Australian Opens and the 2019 Wimbledon tournament getting one win at the 2018 Australian Open. Saville has lost five times in the first round at the Australian Open with other partners.

Next they will face the no. 4 seeds Ivan Dodig from Croatia and Filip Polasek from Slovakia. Dodig and Polasek reached the 2019 Wimbledon semifinals.

This is clearly a huge moment in the careers of the Australians and for that matter all of the players competing in the semifinals.

Rajeev Ram from the USA is the most experienced player to compete in the semis and his best effort was reaching the US Open semifinals in 2014 with Scott Lipsky.

In his round three match Roger Federer found himself close to elimination as Australia’s John Millman was at 8-4 in the match tie breaker.

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Federer would run off the next six points to take the breaker 10-8. A miraculous escape.

In the quarterfinal against Tennys Sandgren, Federer took the first set before need an injury timeout.

It appeared that he was having back pain but after the match Federer said his groin felt tight.

Federer was clearly hampered by injury and his level of play dropped. Sandgren took advantage and won the second and third sets.

In the fourth set Federer found himself facing seven match points. Three coming in the 10th game with Federer serving at 4-5 and four more in the tie breaker.

Sandgren was poised for victory at 6-3 in the breaker but Federer held his nerve to fight his way out of that situation before claiming the match in the fifth set.

The final score was 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3.

Federer will face the winner from the Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic match.

Australia’s world no. 1 Ash Barty has not let Petra Kvitova repeat her 2019 quarterfinal victory at the Australian Open. A year ago Kvitova cruised past the then world no. 15 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

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Since that loss Barty went on to claim her first Grand Slam singles title and she rose to the world no. 1 ranking. She had also defeated Kvitova on three occasions since her Australian Open loss.

This time around it was Kvitova that got off to a good start breaking Barty to love in the third game only to be broken back in the next game for 2-2.

Barty had a tough time in the seventh game fighting off five break points before finally securing the game. Kvitova faced a break point in the next game and Barty saved two in the 11th game.

The opening set would eventually be decided in a tie breaker.

Kvitova gained the early advantage with a mini break for 3-1. Barty would hit back thanks to some great defence in a 22 shot rally. Kvitova held a set point at 6-5 before Barty ran off three straight points to claim the set.

In the second set Barty came out firing and raced to a 4-0 lead. Kvitova held serve and then broke Barty to recover to 4-2.

The Kvitova comeback was shortlived as Barty broke again to be serving for the match at 5-2.

Kvitova was not going away without a fight and held two break points at 15-40 however Barty won the next four points including two Aces to book her spot in the semifinals with a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory.

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“It’s been absolutely incredible. I knew that I had to bring my absolute best today against Petra. That first set was so crucial,” Barty said.

“I just wanted to try to make the most of it and it was really good to get a quick start in the second.”

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The world no. 1 will face the 14th seed from the USA Sofia Kenin. Barty leads the head to head 4-1. Barty defeated Kenin in the r16 at the French Open before claiming that title. Kenin upset Barty in the R32 in Toronto.

Barty is the first Australian woman to reach the singles semifinals since Wendy Turnbull in 1984. Barty is attempting to be the first Australian in the final since Turnbull in 1980 and the first winner since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Rafael Nadal has won a drama filled match against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. The scoreline was identical to their 2019 Wimbledon.

It was a sad occasion as Kyrgios made his way out onto the court at Rod Laver Arena. He was wearing a Kobe Bryant singlet in tribute to the basketball superstar who had tragically died in a helicopter crash earlier in the day.

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Nadal was able to break in the fourth game to lead 3-1 before holding serve to win the first set 6-3. Kyrgios matched Nadal in the second set to also break then hold for a 6-3 win.

The third set went to a tiebreaker with both players serving double faults late in the breaker before Nadal closed it out.

The tennis was amazing and Kyrgios was competing hard against the world no. 1. Again it was a tiebreaker that would decide the set and when Nadal stood at the line to serve at 6-4 he was able to close it out after an 11 shot rally.

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The final score was 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4).

“It was a very tough match. Since like in the beginning I was a little bit under control (but) against Nick you are never under control,” Nadal said.

Nadal now faces Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals after he defeated Gael Monfils.