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Australian Open 2022 Men's Semifinal: TV Schedule, Start Time, Live Stream
January 26, 2022
Four of the top six seeded players to enter the Australian Open men's singles draw advanced to the semifinals.
Rafael Nadal is the most experienced member of the semifinal quartet, but he has not won in Melbourne since 2009.
Daniil Medvedev is viewed as the favorite to capture the season's first major because he won the last hard-court major at the U.S. Open in September over Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic's absence from the Australian Open opened the door for Medvedev to win back-to-back majors and establish himself among the titans of the men's game.
Medvedev can add another massive win to his resume if he beats Nadal in a potential final, but first, he needs to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas comes into the semifinal round with a rest advantage after he needed three sets to win his quarterfinal match. Medvedev rebounded from two sets down to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in a four-hour thriller.
Nadal faces Matteo Berrettini in the other semifinal clash. The Spaniard has one win over the Italian in his career from the 2019 U.S. Open semifinals.
The two semifinals will be played on Thursday night and Friday morning in the eastern time zone. Both of those matches will take place on Friday in Australian eastern daylight time. The winners will face off on Sunday inside Rod Laver Arena.
Australian Open Men's Semifinal TV Schedule
Dates: Thursday, January 27, and Friday, January 28
Start Times: Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET), Friday (3:30 a.m. ET)
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: ESPN+ and ESPN.com.
Previews
No. 6 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 7 Matteo Berrettini
Rafael Nadal has every advantage a player could ask for going into a Grand Slam semifinal match.
Nadal is a 20-time major winner, and he carries an extra bit of motivation to capture his first title down under since 2009.
Nadal won most of his major titles on the Roland-Garros clay. He has five hard-court Grand Slam titles, and only two of them have come in the last five years.
The 35-year-old beat Matteo Berrettini on the New York hard court in the semifinal stage in 2019. That could give Nadal an extra psychological edge going into their semifinal clash.
Berrettini emerged as a more consistent threat on the Grand Slam stage over the last 12 months. He reached the Wimbledon final and advanced to the final eight at the French and U.S. Opens.
Berrettini's lone Grand Slam semifinal triumph did not come against one of the best players in the world. He beat Hubert Hurkacz to reach the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
The first-ever men's Australian Open semifinalist from Italy lost to Djokovic on three occasions during last season's Grand Slam calendar.
He should welcome the sight of not playing the No. 1 player in the world, but he still has a tough assignment versus Nadal.
Berrettini must be much cleaner on the court to challenge Nadal. All but one of the Italian's five matches in Australia have gone four or five sets.
Nadal's only real challenge came from Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinal, and he responded to that with a strong fifth set to close out the Canadian.
Berrettini has a chance to knock off Nadal because the hard court is not the Spaniard's preferred surface, but the 35-year-old could come in with extra motivation to win down under for the first time in a decade and become the winningest men's major champion ever.
No. 2 Daniil Medvedev vs. No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas
Daniil Medvedev's reward for grinding out a five-set quarterfinal battle is a matchup with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The two stars of the new generation of men's tennis squared off eight times in the past. Medvedev owns a 6-2 advantage in the series, but Tsitsipas won two of the last three meetings.
The two players split their Grand Slam meetings in 2021. Medvedev won in the Australian Open semifinal, while Tsitsipas took their French Open quarterfinal battle.
Medvedev is the better hard-court player, but he comes into the semifinal showdown off the harder of the two quarterfinal victories.
The second-seeded Russian expended a ton of energy in his five-set, four-hour win over Felix Auger-Aliassime. That could take a toll on his body no matter how good of shape he is in.
Medvedev should still display a ton of quality on the court, but Tsitsipas is fresher and could take advantage of that to grab an early lead and put the Russian under pressure.
Tsitsipas was far from perfect in his first four matches, but he should come into the semifinal clash with a ton of confidence after a straight-set win over Jannik Sinner. That may help the Greek player get off to a fast start, and it could lead to a win over the highest seed left in the men's singles draw.