MELBOURNE, January 25, 2019

On the hottest day in Melbourne for eight years, an in-form Novak Djokovic cruised into Sunday’s Australian Open title match against Rafael Nadal with a tennis masterclass against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

The World No. 1 was in total control of the encounter, didn’t face a break point capitalizing on seven of his 12 own chances to advance in one hour and 23 minutes.

“It’s definitely one of the best matches I ever had on this court,” Djokovic said. “Everything worked the way I’d imagined it and even more so. Tough one for Lucas but he had a great tournament and I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”

Djokovic will now play against Rafael Nadal in a repeat of their 2012 five hour and 53 minute final in Melbourne, which he won.

“We have slightly different rules this year so I don’t think we’ll go that far as six hours almost. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Hopefully the outcome can be the same for me,” Djokvovic stated.

Earlier in the day, Zhang Shuai of China and local favourite Sam Stosur defeated defending champions Kristina Mladenovic of France and Timea Babos of Hungary 6-3, 6-4 to win their first Australian Open doubles title. The final lasted one hour and 36 minutes.

“I’m really happy I won the Australian Open in Melbourne with my best friend,” Zhang said later. “For sure after here we should play more doubles because now we have high ranking. We can play a lot big tournaments. Last two years, me, I have injury. After, Sam has injury. We cannot play together.

“But now we healthy and we have high ranking. Also after here, we get a lot confidence. We should play more because we want win more.”

Twilight attendance:

21,858