By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, January 27, 2023
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"I'm fighting for the No. 1 spot, it's a childhood dream to be capturing that No. 1 spot someday. I'm close," Stefanos Tsitsipas said of his first AO final.
Photo credit: Graham Denholm/Getty
Dancing among back wall shadows, Stefanos Tsitsipas jabbed back three Karen Khachanov smashes in a row.
Then Tsitsipas seized the light, reversed the rally and rocketed a forehand winner.
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Even when operating from obscure areas of the court, Tsitsipas showed flair for flashy creative solutions.
Exhorted by fans waving Greek flags, a focused Tsitsipas knocked a gritty Khachanov out 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3 to rise to his first Australian Open final.
It's the second Grand Slam final for 2021 Roland Garros runner-up Tsitsipas, who will be second to none if he wins the final on Sunday against Novak Djokovic.
Nine-time AO champion Djokovic defeated 35th-ranked Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2. It was Djokovic's 27th straight Australian Open win. Former No. 1 Djokovic has won 10 of 12 meetings vs. Tsitsipas.
Should Tsitsipas raise the Norman Brookes Trophy and capture his maiden major he will supplant US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz as world No. 1.
A pumped-up Tsitsipas turned his on-court interview with Hall of Famer Jim Courier into a rallying cry to all the Greek fans cramming Rod Laver Arena capping his comments with a hearty "let's go!"
"I like that number. These are the moments that I've been working hard for to be able to play finals like this, but finals that have bigger meaning than just a final," Tsitsipas told Courier. "So it's a Grand Slam final, I'm fighting for the No. 1 spot, it's a childhood dream to be capturing that No. 1 spot someday.
"I'm close. I'm happy that this opportunity comes in Australia and not somewhere else because this is a place of significance so let's do it guys. Let's go!"
Intent from the outset today, Tsitsipas conquered Khachanov in the crosscourt forehand exchanges, torched some timely strikes down the line and protected his serve with vigor. Tsitsipas won 84 percent of his first-serve points and pumped 18 aces against 5 double faults in a 3 hour, 21-minute triumph.
There were twitches and turbulence for Tsitsipas, who was on pace for a routine straight sets win. Tsitsipas failed to serve out the first set at 5-3, saw Khachanov erase a couple of match points with forehand blasts in the third-set tiebreaker and was hit with both time violation warning and foot fault calls at various points.
Still, Tsitsipas never lost sight of his major mission.
"I thought of how hard I worked to get to this position," Tsitsipas said. "I wasn't able to deliver that in the third set I was extremely close to getting it.
"If you stick around, if you dedicate yourself even more and if you concentrate on this moments even more it pays off quite well and always having that ambience in the background somewhere feels so good when I am able to hit the ball and get such a reward back from the fans."
The 24-year-old Greek continued his mastery of Khachanov defeating the Russian for the sixth time in as many meetings as Tsitsipas improved to 10-0 in 2023.
The third-seeded Tsitsipas is quicker around the court than the 6'6 Khachanov and hit some tremendous running forehand drives at crunch time.
Four-time AO semifinalist Tsitsipas held to open—his 25th consecutive hold of the tournament—and earned the first break for 3-1 only to see Khachanov break right back.
The highest seeded man still standing in the field served for the first set at 5-3, but stumbled on serve spitting up successive double faults, incurring a time violation warning and pushing a volley deep off a serve and volley. Tsitsipas' sloppiest service game gifted the break to Khachanov.
Contesting his second straight Slam semifinal, Khachanov capped a tough hold with an ace out wide leveling after 10 games.
Neither man had dropped a tiebreaker in the tournament as the opening set escalated into a breaker. Tsitsipas lifted his level and Khachanov flat-lined a few shots into net. Shaking off a foot fault call, Tsitsipas surged ahead 4-1 then cranked a crosscourt forehand winner for a fistful of set points at 6-1.
On his second set point, Tsitsipas hit a confounding kick serve off his second delivery to take a one-set lead after 55 frenetic minutes.
A 100 to 1 longshot to take the title before this Australian Open started, Khachanov showed strong commitment shrugging off three break points, including sending a smash off the tape, as he held for a 2-1 second-set lead.
Despite another foot fault call, this time for crossing the center stripe, Tsitsipas survived a tricky deuce hold to even after eight games.
Smooth athleticism separates Tsitsipas from the Russian and he showed it by stealing the break in the ninth game.
Dancing in the shadows near the back wall, Tsitsipas made lunging gets on three straight Khachanov smashes. Extending the point in a defensive stand reminiscent of Jimmy Connors vs. Paul Haarhuise US Open night match, Tsitsipas eventually pushed Khachanov back to the baseline in resetting the point. Flipping the script, Tsitsipas slashed a forehand winner for break point.
The forehand disparity distinguished the Greek in the second set. Tsitsipas drew a forehand error breaking for 5-4.
Buzzing through his third love hold of the day, Tsitsipas surged to a two-set lead after 100 minutes of play.
Former world No. 8 Khachanov barely got a sniff of Tsitsipas serve in the second set. The lanky Greek won 17 of 21 first-serve points and hit seven aces against one double fault in a confident second set with his biggest trouble on serve posed by the electronic foot-fault calls.
The third seed was one set from his first major final since the 2021 Roland Garros.
The expansive backswings Tsitsipas uses to generate his jolting power can create timing issues on the return. The Greek's one-handed backhand return has long been a target for elite opponents. Tsitsipas prefers to drive his backhand then chipping it as other one-handers ranging from Federer to Gasquet to Haas have done.
Still, the Greek was timing the return beautifully in the third game of the third set.
Blasting a barrage of his heaviest returns of the match, Tsitsipas piled the pressure on Khachanov. Tsitsipas eventually broke the man in the backward baseball cap's forehand down breaking for a 2-1 third-set lead.
When rare serve stress arrived, Tsitsipas responded. Stepping around his backhand, Tsitsipas slammed an inside-in forehand winner then whipped his 10th ace off the center stripe for 4-2.
Serving for the final, Tsitsipas felt the jitters bricking a flying smash as Khachanov broke back for 5-5. A disconsolate Tsitsipas bounced a stray ball away, while Khachanov cupped his hand to his ear in response to the roaring crowd.
When Khachanov cranked his ninth ace to hold for 6-5, he celebrated waving his arms, exhorting fans to make more noise.
Landing some damaging forehand drives in the tiebreaker, Tsitsipas earned match points at 6-4.
Khachanov wasn't done. The Russian ripped a forehand to end an 18-shot rally to save the first match point. On the second, Khachanov went all in a forehand down the line that dropped in to get him to 6-all.
A shanked backhand from Tsitsipas gave his opponent set point and Khachanov stole the third set on a Tsitsipas forehand error to force a fourth set with a furious fist pump.
On course for a straight sets win, Tsitsipas suddenly had to deal with a fired-up Khachanov and a fourth set in the sun.
Undaunted by disappointment, Tsitsipas repelled everything thrown at him eliciting an error to break for 2-0. Tsitsipas backed up the break with a strong love hold for 3-0.
This time, Tsitsipas didn't lose his lead winning 16 of his last 18 service points.
Nearly 40 minutes after his last match points, Tsitsipas closed on his fourth match point for his second Grand Slam final.
This victory vaults Tsitsipas into his second Grand Slam final and a possible showdown with Djokovic in Sunday's final. If it happens, the world No. 1 ranking and history will be on the line.
When the pair squared off in the 2021 Roland Garros final, Tsitsipas was one set from Grand Slam glory.
Fighting from two sets down for the first time in a Slam final, a determined Djokovic defeated Tsitsipas 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 capturing his 19th major championship at Roland Garros.
Climbing off the red clay after a tough tumble in the first set, Djokovic found his footing ascending rare air as the only man in Open Era history to win all four Grand Slam championships twice.
While Djokovic is playing for record-extending 10th AO crown and a 22nd Grand Slam title to equal rival Rafael Nadal's men's mark, Tsitsipas is playing to put Greek tennis on the major map.
"I feel blessed for the fact I'm able to play tennis at this level," Tsitsipas said. "I've been wanting for many years now to put Greek tennis on the map. Me and Maria have done an incredible job I think.
"I know it probably doesn't mean as much for Australians because you're always producing players and will always have their fair share of high top players but coming from a small country like Greece I'm so grateful I get support like this. I would have never thought that I would be treated so well here so I'm extremely happy I'm in the final now and let's see what happens."