Stefanos Tsitsipas has managed to break down the barrier with which he had always crashed in the past. In his fourth semifinals of the Australian Open, the Greek has claimed his first qualification to the final of the tournament thanks to the resounding victory this Friday against Karen Khachanov with partials of 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6 ), 6-3.
This result means current No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings will battle for world No. 1 on Sunday. If he wins the title, he will debut at the top of the ranking, displacing Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, who has commanded the ranking since he won the US Open last September.
Just five months ago at Flushing Meadows, Tsitsipas had a chance to move up to No. 1, but fell in the first round (l. to Galán). And at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, he needed to win the tournament unbeaten to ascend to the throne.
However, by losing his opening group match (l. to Djokovic), he was left without a chance. Tsitsipas has never been closer to No. 1 than now. And he earned that right thanks to winning his first semifinal in Melbourne with a very high level.
This Friday was the first time he had outranked his semifinal rival in Australia. And the third seed knew how to be favorite and seized the opportunity to improve his ATP HeadToHead record with Khachanov…
