By JOHN PYE
MELBOURNE, Australia — Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will meet in the Australian Open final after each came through epic, momentum-swinging, five-set semifinals on Friday.
Top-ranked Alcaraz fended off No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a match that started in the warmth of the afternoon and, 5 hours and 27 minutes later, became the longest semifinal ever at the Australian Open.
That pushed the start of Djokovic’s match against defending champion Jannik Sinner back a couple of hours and the 24-time major winner finally finished off a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win just after 1:30 a.m.
Djokovic is into his 11th Australian Open final after ending his streak of semifinal exits at four consecutive majors. Alcaraz is into his first title match at Melbourne Park, and aiming to be the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.
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