Thiem defeats Zverev to reach his first final in Melbourne

Before their semifinal clash, both players knew that if they succeed, they will be facing Novak Djokovic who defeated Roger Federer in the first semifinal match. However, both had still a lot to play for as it could have been the first Grand Slam final for Zverev and the first final in Melbourne for Thiem.

At the beginning of the match, Sascha followed-up on a good form from the previous round when he lost a set only to Wawrinka. The German had managed to break Thiem's service game three times to win the first set 6-3.

But the Austrian fought back in the second when he managed to hit 1 more ace than Zverev and also get one more break to win the set 6-4 after turning away 2 breakpoints in the 10th game.

The third set began with a little break for the players when there was a problem with lights so the play was suspended for a moment until it was fixed. After the break, both players took the opponent's service game once and after Zverev did not convert his 2 setpoints in the 10th game, the tie-break had to decide. There, Thiem got an early 3-0 lead which he later strengthened by another mini-break to win the tie-break 7-3.

In the 4th set, we did not see any breakpoints. Players kept a high-level of their service when Thiem managed to win up to 92% of points after his first service. Players reached tie-break and the two-time Roland Garros finalist had a little mental advantage after winning the previous tie-break. Thiem really used the advantage to get a 3-0 lead once again. After converting his second breakpoint, Thiem won the tie-break 7-4 to reach his 3rd Grand Slam final and first in Melbourne.