MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The Latest from the Australian Open (all times local):
9:55 p.m.
Daniil Medvedev made it to his second Grand Slam final by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 at the Australian Open.
Medvedev will face eight-time champion Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park for the title on Sunday.
Medvedev, a 25-year-old from Russia, was the runner-up at the 2019 U.S. Open.
Djokovic, a 33-year-old from Serbia, will be appearing in his 28th major final and seeking an 18th Grand Slam title.
The fourth-seeded Medvedev played nearly perfect defensive tennis at the baseline in his lopsided semifinal against the fifth-seeded Tsitsipas and helped himself with 17 aces.
Tsitsipas looked drained after his epic, five-set, four-hour comeback victory over Rafael Nadal in the previous round.
___
7:50 p.m.
Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have started the second men’s semifinal at the Australian Open.
The No. 4-seeded Medvedev is trying to reach his second Grand Slam final.
No. 5 Tsitsipas seeks his first appearance in a major title match.
The winner will face No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday for the championship. Defending champion Djokovic won his semifinal Thursday.
Medvedev was the runner-up at the 2019 U.S. Open and enters Friday’s matchup with a 5-1 edge over Tsitsipas in their head-to-head series.
Tsitsipas made it to his third Slam semifinal by eliminating Rafael Nadal with a five-set comeback victory after dropping the opening two sets of their quarterfinal.
___
5:45 p.m.
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka have won the Australian Open women’s doubles final to collect a second Grand Slam title as a team.
Mertens of Belgium and Sabalenka of Belarus had a 6-2, 6-3 win over the third-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
They won the U.S. Open title in 2019.
Second-seeded Sabalenka and Mertens wasted three championship points in an eight minute-plus last game. Sabalenka earned a fourth championship point with an ace and clinched the title when Siniakova sent a backhand wide.
Sabalenka is a Top 10 player and is increasingly focusing on singles events.
Krejcikova and Siniakova won the Wimbledon and French Open titles in 2018.
Krejcikova has another chance at a title in Australia after securing a spot in the mixed doubles final.
___
3 p.m.
American Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury of Britain have advanced to the final in men’s doubles at the Australian Open by beating Jamie Murray of Scotland and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Ram and Salisbury won the title last year. Their opponents in the final will be Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia.
Salisbury is also in the mixed doubles semifinals with American Desirae Krawczyk.
___
1:15 p.m.
Play is underway on Day 12 at the Australian Open, and the showcase match will be Friday night’s singles semifinal between No. 4-seeded Daniil Medvedev and No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
The day’s first match is a semifinal in men’s doubles pitting Jamie Murray of Scotland and Bruno Soares of Brazil against American Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury of Britain.
The women’s doubles final will match Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus against Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of Czech Republic.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.