2021 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 11 MEN S NOTES Thursday 18 February Semifinal Top Half

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2021 Australian Open day 11 men’s match notes

2021 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

DAY 11 MEN’S NOTES

Thursday 18 February

Semifinal Top Half

NO. 1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (Q) ASLAN KARATSEV (RUS)

Karatsev is the 6th different opponent that Djokovic has faced in an Australian Open semifinal. Djokovic has won all 8 Australian Open semifinals he has previously contested and has also gone on to win the final on all 8 occasions.

Djokovic’s Australian Open semifinal appearances

Year Opponent Result Result in final

2008 Roger Federer Won 75 63 76(5) d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 46 64 63 76(2) 2011 Roger Federer Won 76(3) 75 64 d. Andy Murray 64 62 63 2012 Andy Murray Won 63 36 67(4) 61 75 d. Rafael Nadal 57 64 62 67(5) 75 2013 David Ferrer Won 62 62 61 d. Andy Murray 67(2) 76(3) 63 62 2015 Stan Wawrinka Won 76(1) 36 64 46 60 d. Andy Murray 76(5) 67(4) 63 60 2016 Roger Federer Won 61 62 36 63 d. Andy Murray 61 75 76(3) 2019 Lucas Pouille Won 60 62 62 d. Rafael Nadal 63 62 63 2020 Roger Federer Won 76(1) 64 63 d. Dominic Thiem 64 46 26 63 64

2021 Aslan Karatsev ?? ??

Djokovic has won 13 of the last 14 Grand Slam semifinals he has contested. His only defeat in a Grand Slam semifinal in that time came against Dominic Thiem at 2019 Roland Garros. He has a 27-11 win-loss record in Grand Slam semifinals overall.

Djokovic’s Grand Slam semifinal defeats

Grand Slam Opponent and Result

2007 Roland Garros l. Rafael Nadal 75 64 62 2007 Wimbledon l. Rafael Nadal 36 61 4-1 ret. 2008 Roland Garros l. Rafael Nadal 64 62 76(3)

2008 US Open l. Roger Federer 63 57 75 62 2009 US Open l. Roger Federer 76(3) 75 75 2010 Wimbledon l. Tomas Berdych 63 76(9) 63 2011 Roland Garros l. Roger Federer 76(5) 63 36 76(5)

2012 Wimbledon l. Roger Federer 63 36 64 63 2013 Roland Garros l. Rafael Nadal 64 36 61 67(3) 9-7

2014 US Open l. Kei Nishikori 64 16 76(4) 63 2019 Roland Garros l. Dominic Thiem 62 36 75 57 75

Karatsev is bidding to become the 6th different player to defeat Djokovic in a Grand Slam semifinal. He is contesting just his 19th Tour-level match today.

Karatsev is also bidding to become the first player to reach the final on his Grand Slam debut, the first qualifier (man or woman) to reach the final at a Grand Slam in the Open Era, and, at No. 114, the lowest-ranked man to reach a Grand Slam final since No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon and the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open final since No. 177 John Marks in 1978.

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Head-to-head: first meeting

Djokovic is bidding to maintain his perfect record against qualifiers at the Grand Slams. He has won all 19 of his previous matches against qualifiers at the Grand Slams – including his 3 previous matches against qualifiers at the Australian Open. He has an 80-6 win-loss record against qualifiers at Tour-level overall. Djokovic has lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as No. 114 Karatsev once before – when he fell to No. 117 Denis Istomin in the 2nd round here in 2017.

Karatsev is bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to defeat the No. 1 seed at the Australian Open since No. 212 Mark Edmondson defeated No. 1 seed Ken Rosewall in the semifinals in 1976. He is also bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to defeat the No. 1 seed at a Grand Slam since No. 203 Ivo Karlovic defeated No. 1 seed Lleyton Hewitt in the 1st round at 2003 Wimbledon.

Karatsev is also bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to defeat a world No. 1 since No. 175 Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated No. 1 Roger Federer in the 2nd round at 2018 Miami-1000.

Of the 4 men through to the semifinals here, Djokovic has dropped the most sets (5). It is the joint-highest number of sets he has dropped in his opening 5 matches in the 39 occasions where he has reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam – he also dropped 5 sets during his opening 5 matches in his semifinal finish at 2007 Wimbledon. Karatsev has dropped 3 sets in the main draw here, and also dropped one set in his 3 matches in Australian Open qualifying last month.

Possible final head-to-heads

Medvedev Tsitsipas Djokovic 4-3 4-2

Karatsev 0-0 0-0

Road to the quarterfinals

DJOKOVIC Time Time KARATSEV

d. Jeremy Chardy 63 61 62 1:31 1st round 1:38 d. Gianluca Mager 63 63 64 d. Frances Tiafoe 63 67(3) 76(2) 63 3:30 2nd round 1:33 d. Egor Gerasimov 60 61 60

d. No. 27 Taylor Fritz 76(1) 64 36 46 62 3:25 3rd round _1:52 _{d. No. 8 Diego Schwartzman 63 63 63}

d. No. 14 Milos Raonic 76(4) 46 61 64 2:56 Round of 16 _3:25 _d.No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime 36 16 63 63 64

d. No. 6 Alexander Zverev 67(6) 62 64 76(6) 3:30 Quarterfinals 2:32 d. No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov 26 64 61 62

total time on court 14:52 (Infosys time) 11:00 total time on court

DJOKOVIC v KARATSEV

33 Age 27

6’2’’/1.88m Height 6’1’’/1.85m

1 ATP Ranking 114

$145,861,177 Career Prize Money (USD) $618,354

81 Titles 0

Won 17 titles Best Grand Slam Result SF Australian Open 2021 301-45 Career Grand Slam Record 5-0

Won 8 titles Best Australian Open Result SF 2021 80-8 Australian Open Record 5-0 941-192 Career Record 8-10 611-114 Career Record - Hard 8-10

7-0 2021 Record 5-0

7-0 2021 Record - Hard 5-0

33-10 Career Five-Set Record 1-0

4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1

266-143 Career Tiebreak Record 2-2 4-3 2021 Tiebreak Record 0-0

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• DJOKOVIC is bidding to reach his 9th Australian Open final and extend his all-time record for most Australian Open men’s singles final appearances. This is his 17th Australian Open appearance.

Most Australian Championships/Open finals (all-time)

Player No. of appearances

Novak Djokovic 9?? John Bromwich Jack Crawford Roy Emerson Roger Federer 7 7 7 7 Stefan Edberg Andy Murray Rafael Nadal Ken Rosewall 5 5 5 5

• Djokovic is also bidding to reach his 28th Grand Slam final and equal Rafael Nadal in 2nd place on the list for most Grand Slam men’s singles final appearances in history. Roger Federer tops the list with 31 Grand Slam final appearances. This is his 63rd Grand Slam appearance.

Most Grand Slam men’s singles finals (all-time)

Roger Federer 31 Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal 28?? 28 Ivan Lendl 19 Pete Sampras 18

• At 33 years 275 days, Djokovic is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era to reach 3 Australian

Open finals after turning 30. He is one of 6 men in the Open Era to reach multiple Australian Open finals

after turning 30 – alongside Andre Agassi, Federer, Nadal, John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall.

• Djokovic is also bidding to reach his 7th Grand Slam final since turning 30 and close the gap on Federer, Nadal and Rosewall at the top of the Open Era list for most Grand Slam final appearances after turning 30.

Most Grand Slam final appearances after turning 30 (Open Era)

Roger Federer Rafael Nadal Ken Rosewall 8 8 8 Novak Djokovic 7?? Andre Agassi Rod Laver 4 4

• Djokovic is bidding to record his 302nd Grand Slam match-win. By defeating Milos Raonic in the round of 16 here, he became the 2nd player to record 300 Grand Slam men’s singles match-wins, after Federer.

Most Grand Slam men’s singles match-wins (Open Era)

Rank Player Grand Slam win-loss

1. Roger Federer 362-59

2. Novak Djokovic 301-45

3. Rafael Nadal 286-40 4. Jimmy Connors 233-49 5. Andre Agassi 224-53

• The Australian Open is Djokovic’s most successful Grand Slam event in terms of titles and matches won, and his joint-most successful Grand Slam event in terms of finals reached. He has also reached 8 finals at the US Open. (see table overleaf)

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Grand Slam Titles won Win-loss record Finals reached

Australian Open 8 80-8 9??

Roland Garros 1 74-15 5 Wimbledon 5 72-10 6

US Open 3 75-12 8

• Djokovic is through to his 9th Australian Open semifinal. He is level with John Bromwich in 3rd place on the all-time list for most semifinal appearances here. Federer (15 Australian Open semifinal appearances) and Jack Crawford (11) are the only men to have reached the semifinals here more often than Djokovic.

• Djokovic is through to his 39th Grand Slam semifinal. He is in 2nd place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances, behind Federer, who has reached 46 Grand Slam semifinals.

• Djokovic’s victory against Taylor Fritz in the 3rd round here was his 33rd victory in a 5-set match. He is in

joint-3rd place on the all-time list for most 5-set matches won, alongside Marin Cilic and Pete Sampras. Most 5-set matches won (all-time)

Player 5-set match win-loss

Ilie Nastase 38-19 Ivan Lendl 36-22 Marin Cilic Novak Djokovic Pete Sampras 33-17 33-10 33-15

• Djokovic’s victory against Fritz in the 3rd round here was his 30th victory in a 5-set match at the Grand Slams, equalling Federer’s record for most 5-set matches won at the Grand Slams. He has a 7-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at the Australian Open.

Most 5-set matches won at the Grand Slams (all-time)

Player 5-set match win-loss

Novak Djokovic Roger Federer 30-9 30-17 Pete Sampras 29-9 Marin Cilic 27-12 Lleyton Hewitt 26-19

• Djokovic is bidding to win his 9th Australian Open title and extend his all-time record for most Australian men’s singles titles. He defeated Dominic Thiem in 5 sets in the final here last year to win his 8th Australian Open title. He claimed sole ownership of the all-time record for most Australian titles, ahead of Roy Emerson and Federer, after defeating Nadal in the final here in 2019. He also won the title here in 2008 (d. Jo-Wilfried Tonga), 2011 (d. Andy Murray), 2012 (d. Nadal), 2013 (d. Murray), 2015 (d. Murray) and 2016 (d. Murray). • Djokovic is also bidding to win his 18th Grand Slam title and close the gap on Federer and Nadal (both 20

Grand Slam titles) at the top of the all-time list for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles. In addition to his 9 titles here, he has also won 5 titles at Wimbledon (2011, 2014-15 and 2018-19), 3 titles at the US Open (2011, 2015 and 2018) and one title at Roland Garros (2016).

• Djokovic is bidding to become the 2nd man in history to win at least 9 titles at any Grand Slam event – after Nadal, who has won 13 titles at Roland Garros. Federer, who has won 8 titles at Wimbledon, is the only other player to have won at least 8 men’s singles titles at a single Grand Slam event.

• Djokovic is aiming to become the first man in the Open Era to win 3 Australian Open titles after turning

30. Having won the title here in 2019 aged 31 years 250 days and last year aged 32 years 256 days, Djokovic

became the 4th man in the Open Era to win multiple Australian Open titles after turning 30 – after Federer, Agassi andRosewall. (NB ages calculated at the end of the tournament)

• Djokovic is also bidding to win his 6th Grand Slam title since turning 30 and equal Nadal’s Open Era record for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles won after the age of 30. Since celebrating his 30th birthday on 22 May 2017, Djokovic has won 5 major titles – at Wimbledon in 2018 and 2019, the 2018 US Open and here in 2019 and 2020.

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• Elsewhere at Grand Slams in 2020, Djokovic reached his 5th final at Roland Garros, but fell to Nadal 60 62 75. It was the first time that Djokovic had lost a set 60 in a Grand Slam final. He reached the round of 16 at the US Open but was defaulted during the first set of his match against Pablo Carreno Busta.

• Also in 2020, Djokovic won the titles at Dubai (d. Stefanos Tsitsipas), Cincinnati-1000 (d. Milos Raonic) and Rome-1000 (d. Diego Schwartzman). By winning the title at Cincinnati, he became the first player to win Masters-1000 events in 3 different decades and the first player to win all 9 Masters-1000 events on at least 2

occasions. He also reached the semifinals at the ATP Finals (l. Thiem) and the quarterfinals at Vienna (l. Lorenzo Sonego).

• Prior to the Australian Open Djokovic represented Serbia at the ATP Cup. He won both singles matches he contested, defeating Canada’s Denis Shapovalov and Germany’s Zverev.

• Djokovic is bidding to win his 82nd Tour-level title here. Only Jimmy Connors (109 Tour-level titles), Federer (103), Ivan Lendl (95) and Nadal (86) have won more Tour-level titles in the Open Era than Djokovic. • Djokovic is guaranteed to remain at No. 1 when the new rankings are published on Monday. He has

been ranked at No. 1 since winning the title here last year.

• Djokovic is also guaranteed to equal Federer’s record for most weeks as world No. 1 (310) on Monday

1 March. He became the 2nd player, after Federer, to spend 300 weeks at No. 1 on 21 December 2020.

• Djokovic has played Davis Cup for Serbia since 2004. He won all 3 of the singles matches he contested as Serbia reached the quarterfinals at the 2019 Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, improving to a 34-7 win-loss record in Davis Cup singles matches. Serbia were awarded a wild card for the 2020 Davis Cup Finals, which have been postponed to 2021.

• Djokovic is coached by Marian Vajda and Goran Ivanisevic, who reached the quarterfinals here in 1989, 1994 and 1997.

• KARATSEV is bidding to become the first qualifier in the Open Era, man or woman, to reach the final at a Grand Slam. All 4 men and 3 women who have previously reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam as qualifiers lost their semifinal matches.

Qualifiers to reach Grand Slam singles semifinals (Open Era)

Player Grand Slam Semifinal result

John McEnroe 1977 Wimbledon l. Jimmy Connors 63 63 46 64 Bob Giltinan December 1977 Australian Open l. John Lloyd 64 62 60 Christine Matison 1978 Australian Open l. Betsy Nagelsen 75 64

Filip Dewulf 1997 Roland Garros l. Gustavo Kuerten 61 36 61 76(4) Alexandra Stevenson 1999 Wimbledon l. Lindsay Davenport 61 61

Vladimir Voltchkov 2000 Wimbledon l. Pete Sampras 76(4) 62 64 Nadia Podoroska 2020 Roland Garros l. Iga Swiatek 62 61

Aslan Karatsev 2021 Australian Open v Novak Djokovic

• Karatsev is also bidding to become the first man in the Open Era to reach the final on his Grand Slam

debut. By reaching the semifinals, he has become the first man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals on

his Grand Slam debut. In the Open Era, the other 6 men to have reached the quarterfinals on their Grand Slam debuts lost their quarterfinal match.

• Karatsev is also bidding to become the 9th man in the Open Era to reach the final on his Australian Open

debut. By reaching the semifinals here, he became the first man to reach the semifinals on his Australian

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2021 Australian Open day 11 men’s match notes Men to reach final on Australian Open debut (Open Era)

Player Year Final result

Onny Parun 1973 l. John Newcombe 63 67 75 61 Jimmy Connors 1974 d. Phil Dent 76 64 46 63 Roscoe Tanner January 1977 d. Guillermo Vilas 63 63 63 Guillermo Vilas January 1977 l. Roscoe Tanner 63 63 63 Vitas Gerulaitis December 1977 d. John Lloyd 63 76 57 36 62

Johan Kriek 1981 d. Steve Denton 62 76 67 64 Steve Denton 1981 l. Johan Kriek 62 76 67 64 Andre Agassi 1995 d. Pete Sampras 46 61 76 64

Aslan Karatsev?? 2021?? ??

• Ranked No. 114, Karatsev is bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open final since No. 177 John Marks in 1978. By reaching the semifinals, he became the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open semifinals since No. 114 Patrick McEnroe in 1991.

• Karatsev is also bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to reach a Grand Slam final since No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon. By reaching the semifinals here, he has become the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam since Ivanisevic at 2001 Wimbledon.

• Karatsev is bidding to become the 3rd Russian man in history to reach the Australian Open final – after Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who reached the final here in 1999-2000, and Marat Safin, who reached the final here in 2002, 2004 and 2005. (NB Daniil Medvedev is also bidding to reach his first Australian Open final this year) • Karatsev is also bidding to become the 5th Russian man in history to reach a Grand Slam final. Medvedev

is bidding to reach his 2nd Grand Slam final here this year.

Russian men in Grand Slam finals (all-time)

Player Grand Slam finals reached

Marat Safin 4 (2000 US Open; 2002, 2004-05 Australian Open) Yevgeny Kafelnikov 3 (1996 Roland Garros; 1999-2000 Australian Open)

Daniil Medvedev 2?? (2019 US Open; 2021 Australian Open??)

Alexander Metreveli*

Aslan Karatsev??

1 (1973 Wimbledon)

1?? (2021 Australian Open??)

*Metreveli represented USSR but was born in Georgia

• If Karatsev and Medvedev both reach the final here, it will be the first time in history that a Grand Slam

final has been contested by 2 Russian men. It would also be the 4th all-Russian singles final at a Grand

Slam and the first since Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina in the women’s singles final at 2009 Roland Garros.

All-Russian Grand Slam singles finals (all-time)

Grand Slam Winning player Losing player Result

2004 Roland Garros Anastasia Myskina Elena Dementieva 61 62 2004 US Open Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Dementieva 63 75 2009 Roland Garros Svetlana Kuznetsova Dinara Safina 64 62

2021 Australian Open?? Aslan Karatsev v Daniil Medvedev?? ??

• If Karatsev and Medvedev both reach the final here, it will be the first Australian Open men’s singles final

contested by 2 players of the same nationality since 1995, when Andre Agassi defeated Pete Sampras in

an all-American final. It would also be the first Grand Slam men’s singles final contested by 2 players of the same nationality since 2013 Roland Garros, when Rafael Nadal defeated David Ferrer in an all-Spanish final. • With Karatsev and Medvedev both through to the semifinals here, there are 2 Russian men in the semifinals

at a Grand Slam for the 3rd time. There were also 2 Russian men in the semifinals at the US Open in both

2001 (Kafelnikov and Safin) and 2006 (Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny).

• By reaching the semifinals here, Karatsev is projected to break the Top 50 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday. He will rise to No. 14 if he wins the title here, to No. 28 if he finishes runner-up, or to No. 42 if he loses in the semifinals today.

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• Karatsev reached a career-high ranking of No. 111 after reaching the 2nd round at Sofia last November. He plays here 3 places lower at No. 114.

• Karatsev’s 5-set victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16 here was the first 5-set match he

has contested.

• As No. 3 seed, Karatsev defeated Brandon Nakashima (USA) 62 67(4) 62, Max Purcell (AUS) 61 62 and Alexandre Muller (FRA) 62 61 in the 3 rounds of Australian Open qualifying. It was the first time he has successfully qualified at a Grand Slam on his 10th attempt.

• At the Grand Slams in 2020, Karatsev reached the final round of qualifying at Roland Garros (l. Sebastian Korda). It was his first appearance in qualifying at a Grand Slam since the 2016 US Open. He was ranked too low to compete at the US Open.

• Karatsev made his first Tour-level appearance since 2016 at St Petersburg last year. As a wild card, he recorded his 2nd Tour-level match-win by reaching the 2nd round (d. Sandgren, l. Karen Khachanov). He also reached the 2nd round as a qualifier at Sofia (d. Taro Daniel, Alex de Minaur). His only Tour-level match-win prior to last season came in a 2nd round finish at 2015 Moscow (d. Mikhail Youzhny, l. Kohlschreiber).

• Also in 2020, Karatsev won back-to-back Challenger titles at the second Prague Challenger (CZE) (d. Tallon Griekspoor) and the Ostrava Challenger (CZE) (d. Oscar Otte). He has won a total of 3 titles at

Challenger-level, having also won the title at the 2015 Kazan Challenger (RUS) (d. Konstantin Kravchuk). He also finished runner-up at both the Bangkok Challenger (THA) (l. Attila Balazs) and the first Prague Challenger (CZE) (l. Stan Wawrinka).

• Prior to the Australian Open Karatsev was a member of the victorious Russian team at the ATP Cup in Melbourne. He contested one doubles match alongside Evgeny Donskoy, falling to Germany’s Kevin Krawietz/Jan-Lennard Struff.