Djokovic cruises into Australian Open final

He defeated American Tommy Paul

By Web Desk
January 27, 2023
Nine-times champion Djokovic will face third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's decider — Australian Open

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic reached a record-extending 10th Australian Open final with a 7-5 6-1 6-2 win over American Tommy Paul on Friday.

Nine-times champion Djokovic will face third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's decider after the Greek booked his first final at Melbourne Park by beating Russian Karen Khachanov.

Djokovic was in a foul mood early at Rod Laver Arena and surrendered a 5-1 lead in the first set as unseeded Paul rallied to 5-5.

However, Djokovic then knuckled down to win 14 of the next 17 games to seal another one-sided victory in his bid for a 22nd Grand Slam title.

Djokovic´s father skips semi after flag controversy

Earlier, Djokovic´s father said he will stay away from his son´s Australian Open semi-final Friday, insisting he "wishes only for peace" after being filmed with fans holding Russian flags.

"I am here to support my son only. I had no intention of causing such headlines or disruption," Srdjan Djokovic said in a statement after the images led to calls for him to be banned from the tournament.

"My family has lived through the horror of war and we wish only for peace," he said.

Srdjan Djokovic made no mention of whether he would attend the Grand Slam final on Sunday.

A video posted to a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account on Thursday showed Djokovic´s father posing with a man holding a Russian flag with Vladimir Putin´s face on it.

The video was captioned: "Novak Djokovic´s father makes bold political statement."

Another man was photographed by AFP inside the stadium during Djokovic´s match with a T-shirt bearing the Russian pro-war "Z" symbol.

Srdjan Djokovic said he was outside with his son´s fans "as I have done after all of my son´s matches to celebrate his wins and take pictures with them".

"I had no intention of being caught up in this."

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