Australian Open 2024: Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick

Fixture: (1) Novak Djokovic vs (4) Jannik Sinner

Date: January 26, 2024

Tournament: Australian Open 2024

Round: Semifinal

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: A$86,500,00

Live telecast: USA - ESPN & Tennis Channel | UK - Eurosport | India - Sony Sports & Sony Liv | Canada - TSN & RDS

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Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner preview

Djokovic is through to an 11th Australian Open semifinal.

Top seed Novak Djokovic takes on fourth seed Jannik Sinner in a blockbuster semifinal at the Australian Open.

Djokovic came through a tough four-set quarterfinal over Taylor Fritz earlier in the day. After saving consecutive set points at 5-6, the Serb forced a tiebreak, which he won, to draw first blood.

Fritz rode an early break of the Djokovic serve in the second set and survived multiple break points to restore parity. The Serb, however, upped the ante, converting his 16th break point, and the floodgates truly opened.

Djokovic dropped just five more games and broke his opponent three times, to reach a record-extending 11th Australian Open quarterfinal.

Earlier this week, the Serb needed four sets to see off Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin in the first two rounds before downing Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Adrian Mannarino in straight sets. The 10-time champion is now 94-8 at the event, winning his last 33 matches since a fourth-round defeat to Hyeon Chung in 2018.

Meanwhile, the fourth-ranked Sinner continued his imperious run through the draw. He saw off the tenacious Andrey Rublev in a three-setter to book a meeting with the defending champion.

The 22-year-old won six points in a row from 1-5 down in the second-set tiebreak to take a commanding two-set lead, and Rublev's challenge wilted. Sinner dropped just three more games in the third set to seal victory in two hours and 39 minutes.

The Italian had seen off Botic van de Zandschulp, Jesper de Jong, Sebastian Baez and Karen Khachanov without breaking much sweat. It's also his first Australian Open semifinal in five appearances.

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Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner head-to-head

Djokovic has won four of his six clashes with Sinner, but the Italian took their last clash in the Davis Cup Finals last year.

The pair went 2-2 in 2023, with Djokovic winning the Wimbledon semifinal and ATP Finals final, while Sinner won in the ATP Finals round-robin and Davis Cup.

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Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner odds

Player	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games (over/under)
Novak Djokovic	-225	-3.5 (-120)	Over 40.5 (-115)
Jannik Sinner	+175	+3.5 (-115)	Under 40.5 (-120)

(Odds sourced from BetMGM)

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Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner prediction

Sinner is in imperious form.

Djokovic and Sinner are two of the most in-form players on tour and playing some of the best tennis of their career.

The Serb, 36, is ageing like fine wine as he moves to within two wins of a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and record 25th Grand Slam to go past Margaret Court.

He's a perfect 10-0 in the Melbourne semifinals and has won 12 straight Grand Slam last-four clashes since losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2019 Roland Garros. The up-and-coming Sinner, meanwhile, is into his second Grand Slam semifinal, having lost to Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.

Sinner has been imperious this fortnight but could meet his match in the Serb, who struggled early on. There are very few chinks in the armour of both players, as evident in their even head-to-head record last year.

Djokovic, though, should take a hard-fought win, considering his superior consistency and experience at the business end of Slams.

Pick: Djokovic in five sets.