Greece's third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the Australian Open final in Melbourne having defeated Russia's Karen Khachanov in Friday's semi-finals.
Tsitsipas won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 against Khachanov to advance into his first Australian Open final on Rod Laver Arena.
The Greek had the better part of three sets against his opponent but got broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, prompting Khachanov to cut loose to extend the contest.
He regained his footing in the fourth set after a bathroom break as he broke Khachanov's serve at the first opportunity and went 3-0 up to move beyond the reach of the Russian.
“If you stick around, if you dedicate yourself even more and if you concentrate on these important moments it pays off quite well,” said Tsitsipas who goes to the second Grand Slam championship match of his career.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is there at last!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 27, 2023
After four #AusOpen semi-final defeats, he's made it to the final ?#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/dMakyiJWjF
The third seed will play the winner between Serbia's Novak Djokovic and American Tommy Paul in Friday's other semi-final.
Tsitsipas who lost the 2021 French Open final to former world number one Djokovic hopes to claim his first Grand Slam so that he would rise to No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time.
“I like that number. It's all about you. It's singular. It's 1,'” Tsitsipas said.
“These are the moments that I've been working hard for to be able to play in the finals like this.”
"It's a Grand Slam final and I am fighting for that number one spot. It's a childhood dream.
"I am close and I am happy that this is coming to Australia, a place of significance for me."
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