Australian Open 2023 Men's Semifinal: TV Schedule, Start Time, Live Stream
Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas appear to be on a collision course to face each other in the 2023 Australian Open men's singles final.
Djokovic is on top form in Melbourne after cruising past three consecutive seeded players to reach the semifinal round.
Tsitsipas is the most notable challenger to Djokovic left in the men's singles field, which saw a handful of early upsets suffered by top 10 seeds.
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Djokovic and Tsitsipas have met once before in a Grand Slam final, with the Serb coming back from two sets down to win the 2021 French Open.
Tommy Paul and Karen Khachanov, respectively, will attempt to pull off upsets, but it feels like Djokovic and Tsitsipas are playing on another level.
Men's Semifinals Schedule
Dates: Thursday, January 26 and Friday, January 27
Start Times: 10:30 p.m. ET (Thursday), 3:30 a.m. ET (Friday)
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: ESPN.com and ESPN app
Previews
No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. No. 18 Karen Khachanov
Stefanos Tsitsipas comes into the semifinal round with a far better track record in Australia than Karen Khachanov.
The third-seeded Greek is a four-time semifinalist in Melbourne in just six appearances in the tournament's main draw. Meanwhile, Khachanov has never been past the third round down under.
Tsitsipas owns a 5-0 head-to-head record over the 18th seed. The two players have never met at a major, but four of their meetings have come on hard courts.
Khachanov has taken Tsitsipas to three sets in two matches, winning the first set in each before succumbing to a comeback from the Greek.
The 26-year-old is making his second straight semifinal appearance at a major. He fell to Carlos Alcaraz in four sets at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Tsitsipas still holds the edge in experience in major semifinals (four appearances to Khachanov's one), and the Greek must be happy that he does not have to face Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Daniil Medvedev at this stage.
The No. 3 seed should come through with the victory to likely set up his second-career Grand Slam final against Djokovic.
No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Tommy Paul
No one expected Djokovic and Tommy Paul to be facing each other at this stage.
The bottom half of the men's singles draw was cleared out of top seeds, and that allowed Paul to cash in on his terrific form.
Paul only had to get past two seeded players, No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round and No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round. The rest of the wins were over unproven unseeded players, including his semifinal victory over fellow American Ben Shelton.
The 25-year-old needs to play the best match of his career, and even then it may not be enough to beat Djokovic.
Djokovic crushed three seeded players in consecutive straight-set wins to reinforce his favorite status in Melbourne.
The nine-time Australian Open champion looked like he was on a completely different level than No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev in Wednesday's quarterfinal, which he won 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
A straight-set win is expected from the Serbian legend. Any other result in a loss would be viewed as a moral victory for Paul, who has never faced Djokovic in his professional career.
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