For Stefanos Tsitsipas, Melbourne is fast becoming a home from home. If he continues in his present vein, seven days from now it may also become the scene of his first grand slam title.
The Australian Open is the happiest of slams for Tsitsipas, who revels in the passionate support of the local Greek community, making three semi-finals in the past four years. He moved a step closer to a fourth against Jannik Sinner on Sunday, resisting a wonderful fightback from the Italian to prevail 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 in exactly four hours.
“It always reminds me of home a little bit when I’m here,” said Tsitsipas, the third seed, who has taken to embracing local idioms in his on-court interviews. “The conditions are similar. It’s not very humid, it’s not very tropical. I can say it’s similar to the Athenian Riviera.
“Another plus is that, wherever I look, I see Greek faces, I see Greek people speaking Greek. Of course, it’s very important when you’re far away from home to have that sort of feeling, to connect even more with the culture that you’re at. It feels very welcoming when you’re able to walk around and feel that.
“It’s for sure my home slam, I would consider, because Melbourne is the second-biggest city after Athens with the biggest Greek population. I would consider it my home slam. The French people have Roland Garros, the Brits have Wimbledon, the Americans have the US Open. For me, it’s the Australian Open.”
For all the warm, fuzzy feelings Melbourne Park may inspire, Tsitsipas was made to work unexpectedly hard for the win. He had brushed aside Sinner for the loss of just nine games when they met in the quarter-finals last year and, when he pocketed the first two sets with a combination of irresistible serving and obdurate play from the back of the court, a repeat looked inevitable.
Instead, Sinner kept his head up and began to establish command of the baseline exchanges, interspersing his penetrating play off the ground with some beautifully crafted dropshots. With Tsitsipas increasingly becalmed, Sinner broke early in each of the next two sets and had the momentum going into the decider. But a break in the sixth game proved decisive for the Greek, whose service recovered its earlier venom in the latter stages after he began to play with a softer wrist.
“It was all about getting myself relaxed and ready for the big battle in the fifth set,” Tsitsipas explained. “Things weren’t going my way after being two sets to love up. It seemed like the momentum switched dramatically, to me at least. There was a big gap that I couldn’t fill in.
“But I made a few technical adjustments in the fifth, gave myself an opportunity to play a bit more loose. That really helped me serve better. I think I kept on moving. I kept on being active to be on these returns that I couldn’t get in the previous sets. That helped me.”
Sinner was crestfallen at the end, trudging wearily up the steps to the players’ tunnel. He had plenty to dwell on, having capitalised on just four of the 26 break points he fashioned over the course of the contest.
“These kind of matches, it can go one way or the other,” said Sinner. “I had the momentum. I messed it up a little bit. I was serving good. The fifth set not so much. The momentum changed a little bit.”
Tsitsipas will now face Lehecka for a place in the last eight. The 21-year-old Czech, who had never won a grand slam match before this week, sealed a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) win over Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian sixth seed was not the only big name to fall. On a bad day for Poland, Hubert Hurkacz followed his compatriot Iga Swiatek out of the tournament as Sebastian Korda, the 29th seed, followed up his shock victory over Daniil Medvedev by taking down the 10th seed 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7).
Amid the chaos that has enveloped the top half of the draw, Tsitsipas has been the one big name to keep his head while all about him have been losing theirs. If he can maintain that equilibrium, the happy slam may yet afford him unprecedented joy.