Novak Djokovic

Djokovic's two-hour and 20-minute win set up a championship match clash against Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, who earlier defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. Sunday's final will also be a straight shootout for No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, with the winner set to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz into the top spot on Monday.

Djokovic was taking on the highest-ranked opponent of his Melbourne campaign so far in World No. 6 Rublev, but he took command early and barely looked back in the pair's maiden Grand Slam meeting. The fourth seed nullified Rublev's powerful groundstrokes with typically resilient defence and hit cleanly through the ball from the baseline throughout, accelerating to a comfortable two-hour, three-minute victory on Rod Laver Arena.

In a dominant display, former world No 1 moved freely to dispatch the Australian 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena. The Serb will next play Andrey Rublev after the fifth seed saved two match points en route to edging Holger Rune in a five-set thriller. In their first ATP head-to-head meeting, Djokovic was locked in from the first ball.

The 35-year-old, struggling with his left leg, edged past Couacaud 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0 in three hours and four minutes. He will lock horns with former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-2, 6-0, in the third round. The Serbian is chasing a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam trophy and reclaims No. 1 spot in the ATP Rankings if he wins the title.

World No. 3 Ruud can also claim top spot by reaching the final, as long as neither Djokovic nor Tsitsipas wins the title. If none of those scenarios play out, the reign of current World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, not playing in Melbourne due to injury, will continue, reports atptour.com.

The top seed Serb saved a championship point at 5-6 in the second set before rallying past the American 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-4 after a gruelling three hours and nine minutes. The 22-year-old Korda was on the cusp of becoming the first man since Hyeon Chung in the 2018 Australian Open fourth round to defeat the Serbian Down Under, but his opponent snuffed out his chance with an overhead winner.

There was also a scary moment for the Serb during the match. Djokovic tweaked his left leg and during the 5-2 changeover was forced to leave the court for a medical timeout. But the 91-time tour-level titlist played on and took a 9-4 lead in his ATP head-to-head series with Medvedev.

An entertaining one-hour, 55-minute matchup provided rich entertainment for a vocal Adelaide crowd, which was treated to some ferocious baseline exchanges as Shapovalov went toe-to-toe with the 91-time tour-level titleist Djokovic. However, the Serbian was more clinical at key moments and three breaks of serve across the two sets were enough.

The Serb and his Canadian partner Vasek Pospisil suffered a 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 loss at the hands of Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar, on his return to Australia for the first time since he won the 2021 Australian Open. The 21-time Grand Slam champion received huge support from the crowd.

"The field is super strong. You have Medvedev, Felix, Rublev. You have really, really top guys. Also in the opening rounds, you can play Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is the title defender, right? That could be fun actually. Playing Thanasi in front of his home fans could be fun," Djokovic was quoted as saying by ATP on Thursday.