Australian Open LIVE: Jannik Sinner defeats Andrey Rublev to set Novak Djokovic semi – The Independent

At 1:24 am in Melbourne, it was tempting to suggest that the Australian Open had narrowly escaped an embarrassing night. As Jannik Sinner defeated Andrey Rublev in straight-sets to advance to the semi-finals, perhaps the tournament organisers breathed a sigh of relief that the day’s play finished at ‘only’ half one in the morning rather than an even later hour.

That, however, would only confirm just how ridiculous it is that tennis continues to do this to itself and how these absurd late-night finishes have become part of the game. It is a habit that no one wants, no one benefits from, and a problem the grand slams are seemingly unwilling to kick.

Had Sinner not produced a wonderful recovery from 1-5 down in the second-set tiebreak, or if Aryna Sabalenka had not been so utterly dominant in her thrashing of Barbora Krejcikova in the previous match of the night session, then the Australian Open would have surely staged another match well into the absurd stretches of the night.

Fortunately, this was not Andy Murray’s 4am finish from last year, or Daniil Medvedev’s 3:39am comeback against Emil Ruusuvuori from earlier in the tournament. Both those matches went to five sets – Sinner made sure his didn’t. If it had, it may have wrecked his body clock ahead of facing Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

But will tennis learn its lesson? This is what the sport has become, at the request and enjoyment of no one.

As Aryna Sabalenka continued to steamroll her way through to her Australian Open defence, the only thing as inevitable as her progress to the semi-finals was her opponent in the final four. When the draw was made two weeks ago, it was clear Sabalenka’s path to the Melbourne final would be blocked by a significant obstacle. But in Coco Gauff, the reigning US Open champion who defeated Sabalenka to win her first grand slam title in September, the Belarusian was also given the chance for “revenge”. Now, the rematch is set.

The rest of the quarter-finals are on tomorrow, with all four taking place on the Rod Laver Arena

Linda Noskova (Cze) v Dayana Yastremska (Ukr)

Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) v Daniil Medvedev (Rus)

Anna Kalinskaya (Rus) v Zheng Qinwen (Chn)

Alexander Zverev (Ger) v Carlos Alcaraz (Spa)

In case you missed it, here are the full results from today’s singles actions.

Coco Gauff bt. Marta Kostyuk 7-6 6-7 6-2

Novak Djokovic bt. Taylor Fritz 7-6 4-6 6-2 6-3

Aryna Sabalenka bt. Barbora Krejcikova 6-2 6-3

Jannik Sinner bt. Andrey Rublev 6-4 7-6 6-3

There is nobody left in the men’s and women’s singles draw, but British interest continues to exist in other parts of the competition. Defending men’s wheelchair champion Alife Hewett began his defence with a routine 6-1 7-5 win over Takashi Sanada and will now play Chile’s Alexander Cataldo in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Neal Skupski and his American partner Desirae Krawczyk reached the Australian Open mixed doubles semi-finals after winning 6-1 6-4 against the all-British pairing of Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury.

As we enter the business end of the tournament, you will not want to miss a single shot. Tomorrow sees the second set of quarter-finals before the semis and finals to conclude the second week of action in Melbourne.

Here’s everything you need to know so you don’t miss a thing.

13 per cent increase of £5.34m (AU$10m) from 2023.

The total prize pool now stands at £46.2m (AU$86.5m), with the men’s singles and women’s singles champions taking home around £1.67m (AU $3.15m) for winning the tournament.

Prize money has also been increased in the early rounds, with players who reach the main draw earning £64,000 – even if they do not win a match at the tournament.

Here’s everything you need to know.

The pair will meet in the blockbuster semi-final on Thursday in what will be a repeat of the US Open final in 2023. Coco Gauff was victorious on that occasion but Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, is out for revenge.

“I love it. After US Open, I really wanted that revenge. It’s always great battles against Coco, with really great fights. I’m happy to play her, and I’m super excited to play that semi-final match,” she said.

Gauff, meanwhile, is the youngest American to reach the women’s semi-finals in Melbourne since Mary Joe Fernandez back in 1991, and she is two wins away from making it back-to-back slam titles.

“It was a fight,” said Gauff after her quarter-final victory. “I think today was definitely a C game, so I didn’t play my best tennis, but I’m really proud that I was able to get through today’s match. Hopefully got the bad match out of the way and I can play even better.”

Djokovic battled past his American opponent 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-2 6-3 after three hours and 45 minutes, with the match starting later than expected because of Coco Gauff’s lengthy clash with Marta Kostyuk in the opening match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.

Extending the tournament to 15 days this year and scheduling only two matches in each day session was meant to avoid the sort of early-morning finishes that have become increasingly common.

Djokovic said: “We’ve seen in the past some late finishes. And I know for the crowds and for the tournament in a way it’s kind of exciting to see a 4am finish, a 3am finish. I was part of some of those. But it’s definitely not fun for us.

“The good thing about the quarter-finalist on the men’s section is we have two days. So I think that’s plenty of time to get a good sleep and recover.”

The world number one has never lost in Melbourne once he has made it beyond the last eight, and there is no doubt how much he wants a 25th grand-slam title.