Adelaide Tournament | Medvedev-Djokovic, a semi-final between former kings of world tennis

(Adelaide) Daniil Medvedev against Novak Djokovic: the semi-final of the top of the table of the ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide will oppose the two former kings of world tennis, winners in two sets of their quarter-finals on Friday.

Djokovic, 5^e world, who looks like a fish in water for his return to a country which had refused to issue him a visa a year ago because of non-vaccination against COVID-19, got rid of the Canadian left-hander Denis Shapovalov (18^e world) 6-3, 6-4.

After a few games to get going, “Djoko”, at 3-3, then took Shapovalov’s service twice in a row to pocket the first set 6-3.

Another successful break early in the next, at 1-1, allowed him to come away 3-1. Despite the return of the Canadian, Djokovic made the break again at 4-4, to win on the next service.

Medvedev, 7^e World Cup, dominated his compatriot Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3. Facing a player he had not found in front of him since the semi-final of the Masters 1000 in Montreal in August 2019 – which he had won – he won for the third time in four confrontations against him.

“It’s never easy to meet a compatriot. I’m happy to have reached the semi-finals by managing to raise the level of my game, especially at the end of each round,” he said. “I’m playing well right now, and honestly, that’s all that matters. »

Korda defeats a diminished Sinner

At 3-3 in the first set, Medvedev put a boost: he then won twelve of the next fifteen points, broke twice and pocketed the first set 6-3.

In the second, Khachanov pulled away 3-1, but Medvedev won the next five games, and the match.

Medvedev and Djokovic will meet for the thirteenth time in what has become a “classic” on the circuit. The Serb leads 8 wins to 4.

The much more unexpected semi-final at the bottom of the table will see American Sebastian Korda (33^e world) and the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (36^e). Neither are seeded in Adelaide.

Korda, whose father Petr won the Australian Open in 1998, beat Italian Jannik Sinner (15^e world) 7-5, 6-1. At the end of a hotly contested first run, Sinner had his groin treated and looked hampered by the injury in a second run largely dominated by Korda.

The American will meet for a place in the final an opponent who will have remained on the court an hour and twenty minutes longer than him, to defeat the Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (8 /10), 6-2. Which could be a handicap for the Japanese.