{"id":1140,"date":"2023-01-27T12:50:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T13:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:02:51","slug":"dominant-djokovic-eases-through-to-australian-open-final-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/27\/dominant-djokovic-eases-through-to-australian-open-final-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominant Djokovic eases through to Australian Open final (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Serbian star remains on course for a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title<\/strong><\/p>\n

History beckons once again for Serbian tennis great Novak Djokovic after he emphatically defeated American Tommy Paul on Friday to qualify for yet another Australian Open final. <\/p>\n

Djokovic will meet Greece\u2019s Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday\u2019s clash in pursuit of what would be a tenth title Down Under, with a win also drawing him level with Spanish rival Rafael Nadal in the all-time Grand Slam stakes, with 22 wins. <\/p>\n

Australian Open specialist Djokovic roared out of the blocks in the first set, storming to a 5-1 lead before a brief discussion with the umpire over the use of towels appeared to stifle his momentum, and led to his serve being broken twice to quickly level the scores at 5-5. <\/p>\n

That was as good as it got for the American. Paul claimed a 30-0 lead on his next service game, only for Djokovic to click back into gear and storm into the lead \u2013 taking the first set 7-5.<\/p>\n

\n

#AusOpen<\/a> semifinals: \u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f\u2714\ufe0f#AusOpen<\/a> finals: \ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\ud83c\udfc6\u2753<\/p>\n

Will X mark the spot for @DjokerNole<\/a> on Sunday?@wwos<\/a> \u2022 @espn<\/a> \u2022 @eurosport<\/a> \u2022 @wowowtennis<\/a> \u2022 #AO2023<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/lcx6Wnm3dT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From there, it was business as usual for the Serb \u2013 who recorded his 27th successive win at the Australian Open, breaking a record held by Andre Agassi.<\/p>\n

Djokovic, who has never lost a final at the Australian Open, forged a path to another when he took the second set 6-1 and again met little resistance in the third to take the set \u2013 and the match \u2013 with a score of 6-2 in a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes on court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have strong memories of 15 years ago, but I wouldn\u2019t have imagined things to have turned out like they have. I\u2019m so blessed and grateful, marvelling and cherishing every moment<\/em>,\u201d Djokovic said afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My level is] great, it\u2019s perfect. It\u2019s 110%,\u201d he added, apparently not feeling the effects of a hamstring injury which had been troubling him earlier in the tournament.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cStefanos, see you in two days!<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

“I’m super blessed and grateful…”@DjokerNole<\/a> paid tribute to the team behind his phenomenal success on the eve of another Grand Slam final. #AusOpen<\/a> \u2022 #AO2023<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/lBy5XZh8pK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOf course, you\u2019re not as fresh as in the beginning, but we put in a lot of hours throughout the offseason into fitness to be in a good enough condition to play best of five.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI know what\u2019s expected of me. Experience helps, but on court, moment to moment, it\u2019s a great battle with yourself and your opponent. You can feel the long rallies; we both had heavy legs. I held my nerves at the end of the first set; that was a key moment where I started swinging through the ball more<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s advancement to the final comes a year on from his contentious deportation from Australia following a vaccination row with Australian immigration officials.<\/p>\n

He was initially suspended from entering Australia for a period of three years, though this penalty was rescinded in November. <\/p>\n

The Djokovic family was the subject of more off-the-court drama this week, however, after Novak\u2019s father Srdjan Djokovic declined to attend his son\u2019s semifinal match after he was pictured in the company of supporters flying the Russian tricolor following Djokovic\u2019s Wednesday win against Russia\u2019s Andrey Rublev. <\/p>\n

Displaying the Russian flag was banned by Tennis Australia officials earlier in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Serbian star remains on course for a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title History beckons once again for Serbian tennis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}