Djokovic beats Medvedev to reach Adelaide final

ADELAIDE (AP): Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the Adelaide International final despite sustaining a leg injury during the match.

In the seventh game of the first set, Djokovic caught his left foot when sliding for a ball and immediately began stretching out his hamstring. He took a medical timeout.

“Thankfully, it was nothing too serious,” Djokovic said later, adding he went off court to take some anti-inflammatories. “Hopefully, tomorrow it will be all fine.”

Djokovic will play Sebastian Korda in Sunday’s final.

The win was Djokovic’s 33rd in a row in Australia since his shock 2018 loss to Hyeon Chung in the Australian Open quarterfinals that year. He did not play last year when he was deported from Australia for not being vaccinated for COVID-19.

Korda advanced to the final after Yoshihito Nishioka retired hurt midway through their semifinal.

Korda broke Nishioka’s serve in the opening game of the second set and the Japanese left-hander called a medical timeout for treatment on an apparent leg injury. Nishioka returned to play a few more points before retiring mid-game, with Korda leading 7-6 (5), 1-0.
Teenage qualifier Linda Noskova advanced to the women’s singles final after beating top-seeded Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur, a two-time Grand Slam singles finalist last year, needed a medical timeout for treatment on her back during the opening set and the world No. 2-ranked player looked restricted at times on the way to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 defeat on Saturday.

Noskova, an 18-year-old Czech ranked 102, will take on world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s final. Sabalenka earlier advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Irina-Camelia Begu.

Noskova has won six consecutive matches in only her sixth appearance in the main draw of a WTA event. She had to save match points during qualifying to make it to the main draw.

Sabalenka had five double-faults but finished the match with her sixth ace. She won more than 80% of her points on her first serve and controlled the match from the baseline. She hasn’t dropped a set this tournament.

“I’m happy with the level I played,” Sabalenka said. “She’s playing a little bit different style, so I’m super happy that I was able to win this match.”