A fiery Novak Djokovic reached a 10th Australian Open final on Friday and edged closer to a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title, with only Stefanos Tsitsipas standing in his way.
The Serbian fourth seed defeated unseeded American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena.
Another title on Sunday would take him level with Rafael Nadal on 22 Slam wins and see the 35-year-old return to world number one for the first time since last June.
Greek third seed Tsitsipas beat Russian 18th seed Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 in the other semi-final. -The ranked player should lift the trophy.
Djokovic struggled without father Sarjan after he was filmed with a man holding a Russian flag bearing Vladimir Putin’s face following his son’s victory in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The incident sparked a backlash from Ukraine and calls for Djokovic’s father to be banned from the tournament.
Srijan released a statement before the semi-finals saying he would stay away, insisting he “only wished for peace” and had never wanted to cause “disruption”.