Australian Open men's semi-finals predictions & tennis betting tips: Novak Djokovic should ease into title decider

Where to watch

Eurosport 1, from 8am Thursday

Best bets

Tommy Paul to win under 11.5 games v Novak Djokovic
2pt 10-11 bet365

Stefanos Tsitsipas to win & both players to win a set
1pt 13-10 bet365

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Men's semi-final preview

Former world number one Novak Djokovic has gone on to lift the Australian Open trophy on all nine occasions he has contested a semi-final and the super Serb is 2-9 to make it a tenth title triumph in Melbourne this year.

The Belgrade-born 35-year-old was forced to miss last year’s competition but, having won the title in three consecutive years prior to that, looks determined to regain his crown.

Djokovic, seeded four for the first Grand Slam event of the season, has gotten stronger as the tournament has progressed and faces a semi-final debutant in American world number 35 Tommy Paul.

The other semi-final encounter pits together Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas and Russian number three Karen Khachanov, who also reached the last four at the US Open in September.

Tsitsipas has fallen at the semi-final stage at Melbourne Park in three of the last four seasons but is 2-5 to stop the rot against Khachanov, while he is 4-1 to go on and claim his maiden major.

Novak Djokovic v Tommy Paul

Djokovic required medical timeouts in his second and third-round encounters, but subsequent wins over home hope Alex de Minaur and fifth seed Andrey Rublev should have quashed any injury concerns.

His antics haven’t sat well with some tennis fans but that won’t faze Djokovic, who has won his last 26 matches at the Australian Open and has his eyes firmly set on moving level with Rafael Nadal on 22 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic has won four of his five Australian Open assignments in straight sets but the manner of his latest two victories suggest his performances have peaked.

The world number five took just over two hours to see off De Minaur in his last-16 duel, dropping just five games, and was even more impressive in dismissing quarter-final opponent Rublev, winning 6-1 6-2 6-4.

That spells trouble for Paul, who may struggle to adapt to the pressure of the situation against one of the all-time greats.

The American has performed wonders to make the semi-final but he has profited from a generous draw with 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut his highest-ranked scalp.

A straight-set win for Djokovic makes plenty of appeal at 8-13 but backing Paul to win under 11.5 games could provide greater value.

It’s easy to see the unseeded Paul blinking given this is the biggest match of his career and Djokovic has dropped a total of just 12 games in his last two wins over De Minaur and Rublev.

Karen Khachanov v Stefanos Tsitsipas 

Having failed to do so in three previous semi-final attempts, Tsitsipas looks ready to finally book his place in the Australian Open final.

Having gone the distance with Jannik Sinner in the last-16, it was back to business for the Greek third seed in the quarter-final as he overcame Jiri Lehecka in straight sets.

However, that doesn’t tell the full story as Tsitsipas saved all eight break points he faced against Lehecka, which suggests Karen Khachanov can carve out opportunities.

The Russian has lost five of his six meetings with Tsitsipas and his quarter-final test with Sebastian Korda was made easier by the American’s wrist injury.

But Khachanov, featuring in back-to-back Grand Slam semi-finals, has evidently found some consistency and he won’t go down without a fight.

Tsitsipas is taken to prevail but Khachanov has taken a set off the Athens ace in three of their last four rivalries and can do so again.

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