Jannik Sinner downed defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 at the Australian Open on Friday to hand the top seed a first defeat at his Melbourne Park fortress in six years and power into his maiden grand slam final.

Sinner’s masterclass in the opening two sets set the wheels in motion for Djokovic’s only defeat in the semi-finals of his favourite major. The youngster also became the first Italian player to reach an Australian Open singles final.

“It was a very, very tough match,” said Sinner, who did not face a single break point in the match. “For two sets I felt that he was not feeling too good on court so I just tried to keep pushing and then in the third set I had match point and I missed the forehand, but you know, this is tennis.”

The fourth-seeded Sinner made a rollicking start by targeting his 36-year-old opponent’s shaky serve and error-prone backhand to comfortably win the opening set.

Djokovic had not lost at his favourite stomping ground since the 2018 edition when he crashed to South Korean Chung Hyeon and there were worrying signs for the 10-time Melbourne champion as the 22-year-old Sinner eased through the next on a double break.

The Sinner tsunami showed no signs of subsiding in the third set but Djokovic raised his game to stay firm until the tiebreak where the Italian squandered a match point at 6-5 by hitting a forehand into the net to give his opponent a lifeline.

Djokovic claimed the next three points to pull a set back to draw loud cheers, but Sinner broke for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set and ran away with the match to snap the Serb’s 33-match winning run at Melbourne Park.

Djokovic said his performance was one of the worst he had produced in more than 400 grand slam matches. “There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets. I guess this is one of the worst grand slam matches I’ve ever played,” he said.

Mixed doubles

Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski are the Australian Open mixed doubles champions after beating Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Neal Skupski of Britain 6-7 (5), 6-4, 11-9.