Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner to play for Australian Open 2024 men's singles title

Daniil Medvedev of Russia claimed an epic comeback win by beating Alexander Zverev of Germany 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the men's singles semifinals at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday.

"I managed to win, so I am very proud," Medvedev said after the match.

It took Medvedev four hours and 18 minutes to secure his third singles final appearance at Melbourne Park. He lost to Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Rafael Nadal of Spain in 2021 and 2022, respectively. This time, neither will stand in Medvedev's way of going for his second Grand Slam singles title after winning the U.S. Open in 2021.

Nadal didn't participate in the Australian Open this year because of an injury. Jannik Sinner of Italy beat Djokovic 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the other semifinal match earlier on Friday.

Having secured his third win over Djokovic in their past four singles meetings, Sinner became the first Italian player to advance to the Australian Open singles final. It will be his first chance to compete for a singles title at any of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

"It was a very, very tough match," Sinner said after ending Djokovic's 33-match winning streak at the tournament. "For two sets, I felt like he was not feeling that great, so I just tried to keep pushing. In the third set, I had match point and I missed a forehand, but this is tennis. I just tried to be ready for the next set, which I started off really well. And obviously, the atmosphere was so great to play here."

Medvedev and Sinner have played each other nine times before, and the former won six of those matches. Nonetheless, Sinner beat him three straight times in their past three contests, including doing so to win the China Open title in Beijing in October 2023 and the Vienna Open title in the same month.