This year's Australian Open (and the first of the four Grand Slams) was certainly one for the books, as records were broken, upsets plentiful, long matches into the wee hours of the Melbourne morning, and just some great tennis for fans to enjoy. With that said, let's break down how this Open concluded! First up was the first women's semi-final, which to some fans, seemed like the final itself! We had defending champion and No.2 ranked Aryna Sabalenka taking on No.4 ranked Coco Gauff. The first set was a hard-hitting clash of the titans, with Sabalenka eventually pulling out the set in a tie-breaker, 7-6. Sabalenka then went on to win the 2nd set, 6-4 and moves her on to the finals- keep in mind that Sabalenka has yet to drop a set during this entire open, so her opponent has a real uphill climb in the finals.
And Sabalenka's opponent will be the fast-rising star from China, No.12 seeded Qinwen Zheng, who took on Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska and won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Zheng will be the underdog as she looks to become the first Chinese women's player to win the Australian Open since champion Li Na, who raised the trophy in 2014.
On the men's side, No.4 ranked Jannik Sinner and defending champion and No.1 seeded Novak Djokovic met up on what was expected to be a heavyweight bout between two players at the top of their game. Sinner has not lost one set during the tourney and Djokovic has been cruising thru matches with relative ease.
Sinner cruised in the first set, shocking fans by beating Djokivic, 6-1 in just 35 minutes. Novak didn't help his cause, producing 16 unforced errors in just one set alone! The second set, Novak's serve improved, but was still plagued by multiple unforced errors, adding 14 more, as Sinner took advantage and won the second set, 6-2.
The third set Djokovic stepped up his game, not losing serve, to force a tie-breaker against the Italian, at 6-6. The Serbian ends up winning the tie-breaker, 8-6, leading us to a fourth set. This is the first set that Sinner has lost during the entire tournament!
Djokicic's serve kept him in the the set, but again, too many forced errors by Novak, and Sinner wins the set, 6-3, and the match, to move on to the Aussie final.
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/39391142/jannik-sinner-ends-novak-djokovic-australian-open-reign-semifinals
Notes: Novak had over 50 unforced errors. He also will not be defending the Aussie Open.
The 22 year-old Sinner played a very patient, very methodical game, making few errors.
Novak, until the last sets, just did not have the energy, and that allowed Sinner to make shots that Novak would've crushed. Basically, just not Novak's day.
A great match, even if Novak (don't let the tiger get back into the game!) didn't have his best game. This loss also breaks Djokivic's 34 straight semi appearances at the Aussie Open! (insert shocked emoji here). If you cannot tell by now, this for me, was like a final between these two players! Changing of the guard is in the process in the world of men's tennis. A stunner Down Under, indeed! The late match (for us watching on the west coast!) between No. 3 ranked Daniil Medevev and No.6 ranked Alexander Zverev was up next. Both players came out swinging, Zverev took advantage of Medi's lack of response to Zverev's front-hand missed shots, but also Zverev coming hard on Medevev's serve made this first set a close one, with Zverev winning, 7-5. I had fallen asleep by then, so was able to snatch this comment off of social media that sums up this match: From two sets to love down, Daniil Medvedev is into his third Australian Open final! What a fightback - two tiebreak wins in the third and fourth sets, and then the all-important break in the fifth! Final match scores: 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 6-3! Medi making history! Only four Men in the Open Era at the Australian Open have ever won a semifinal or final match after dropping the first two sets. The last to do it? Rafael Nadal ... against Daniil Medvedev in the 2022 men's final.
2022 Final Rafael Nadal
2006 SF Marcos Baghdatis
2001 SF Arnaud Clement
1984 SF Kevin Curren
Onto the Australian Open Finals!
Women's Final: Defending Champion Aryna Sabalenka vs Qinwen Zheng
Men's Final: Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev
In the women's final Aryna Sabalenka was dominant in her match, defeating Qinten Zheng in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 for her second Australian Open trophy!
In the men's final, after playing over 20 hours of tennis on court this week, 27 year-old Daniil Medevev was the underdog going against a far more rested Jannik Sinner. Well, for the first two sets, it looked the other way around, as Medi was flying around the court, making aces, and had Jannik befuddled, shocking everyone and winning the first two sets. But the 22 year-old Sinner started to find his baseline stroke and serve, while Medevev started piling up unforced errors, and as the match went on, the man who set a grand slam record of playing the most hours on court (23 hours, 49 minutes), eventually ran out of gas as Sinner went on to win the the last three matches, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and claim his first Gand Slam title, and the the first Italian to win it in 48 years!
Congrats to the champions, the players and the Australian Open for a very entertaining two weeks of tennis. The French Open will be my next Slam to cover later this spring.
Commenti