High noon in Melbourne sees Sinner gunning for Djokovic

MELBOURNE : Jannik Sinner seemed to have Novak Djokovic's number at the end of last year when he beat the Serb twice in 11 days but the Italian knows facing the world number one in the Australian Open semi-finals is the acid test of his Grand Slam ambitions.

Sinner is as close as he has ever come to winning a major, having also reached the semis of Wimbledon last year, where the 22-year-old was beaten handily by Djokovic.

Motoring through the Melbourne Park draw without dropping a set, Sinner has shown both patience and power to send his rivals packing. He also showed no shortage of resilience to beat Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the last round.

But he will need power, patience, resilience and a whole lot more on Friday if he is to defeat Djokovic, who is looking to move past Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam crowns by winning an 11th Australian Open title.

The Serb lost to Sinner in the group stage of the ATP Finals in November, and while he turned the tables on the Italian in the final, he then lost to him again in their singles match-up at the Davis Cup.

Sinner tasted yet another victory against Djokovic in the Davis Cup doubles as Italy won the title for the first time in nearly 50 years.

After putting Rublev to the sword on Tuesday, Sinner said he felt "lucky" to be facing Djokovic again in the final match of the day session on Rod Laver Arena.

"This is one of the biggest tournaments in the world; happy that I can play against the number one in the world — he's won here some times — but it's going to be tough," he said.

"The only thing I can control is that I will give 100 per cent and fight for every ball. We'll see what the outcome will be."

The other semi-final on Friday pits 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil