By Courtney Walsh
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will be hoping it is third time lucky in an Australian Open semi-final after his scintillating 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory against Jannik Sinner in the last eight on Wednesday at Rod Laver Arena.
The fourth seed, a semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, was stretched to five sets by Taylor Fritz on Monday but showed no signs of fatigue in a match that started in blazing sunshine but finished under the roof after a storm hit.
The 23-year-old will play the winner of the quarter-final between Russian Daniil Medvedev and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime later on Wednesday.
With Melbourne’s big Greek population, Tsitsipas has always drawn strong support at the Australian Open and it was the same again in the clash against Sinner.
“I think my humility helped a lot today. I knew I was going on the court facing a very good player. I tried to focus on my best shots and it paid off more than I thought,” he said in his on-court interview.
“Once again, stepping on to that court, having the crowd support, it is truly unbelievable.”
A finalist at Roland Garros last year, Tsitsipas was troubled by elbow problems at the end of last season and was concerned he might not be able to play in Australia.
“I am pretty sure my doctor is watching right now. He has been sending me texts after every single game,” he said.
“He said ‘I don’t expect to see you playing in Australia’. But I proved him wrong. I am happy I have found the right man to bring me back even stronger.”
(Reporting by Courtney Walsh; editing by Peter Rutherford)
