The women have played their semi-finals at the Australian Open and on Friday it will be the turn of the last four men remaining to battle it out for a place in the final of the opening Grand Slam of the year on Sunday.
As was the case with the women we have the two top ranked players in the world on show in these semi-finals, an all-time legend of the game and a dangerous outsider who will be looking to achieve the best day of his career.
Novak Djokovic vs Alexander Zverev
The opening semi-final of the day sees the man who has won this tournament 10 times in Novak Djokovic looking to make it back to the final when he goes up against Alexander Zverev for whom winning a maiden Grand Slam title has to be his aim over the next few days.
These two have met on a number of occasions and the semi-final spotlight isn’t something they are not used to so we should be in for a cracking match here, although the caveat to that would be whether Novak Djokovic is injured or not. He had a medical timeout against Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round and came back with a taped up thigh and cancelled his practice session on Thursday. That doesn’t always mean anything but it does put me off getting involved in the match outcome but I’m expecting some lengthy sets here and more than three of them. The last four Djokovic wins have seen Zverev win a set apart from the last one where Djokovic won 76 75 so that was close anyway and the last two Zverev wins went the distance. I don’t know whether this goes the distance but the German has the weapons to hit through Djokovic, especially behind his first serve, to ensure he wins at least a set and so over 39.5 games has to be a runner and probably the best bet as if Djokovic is injured and doesn’t finish the match we’ll be voided.
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Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton
The second semi-final will see Jannik Sinner looking to take his title defence down to the final as Aryna Sabalenka did on Thursday. The American fireball Ben Shelton is the man across the net and standing in his way as he looks to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time.
Sinner had a bit of a wobble in his match against Holger Rune when he looked to be suffering with illness or the heat had got to him but that aside the defending champion has cruised into the semi-final and it is hard to see him not easing into the final too. Shelton has beaten Sinner in the past but since then the Italian has won their last four meetings without dropping a set and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins this 3-0. That was the bet I took in the quarter final when Sinner faced Alex de Minaur because the Australian lacked the weapons to hit through Sinner. Shelton has a bit more power and a big serve at his disposal but that doesn’t mean he’ll win a set. It was 5/4 Sinner to win 3-0 in the last round and it is odds on here which puts me off. I’ll leave this one alone and watch to see if Shelton can trouble the Italian.
Tips
Back N.Djokovic vs A.Zverev – Over 39.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365