MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA) (ITALPRESS) – From Melbourne to Melbourne, hoping for a different epilogue this time. Twelve months later, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori will take the court on Saturday to win the Australian Open: on the concrete of the Rod Laver Arena, the award-winning Italian firm overcame in the semifinals with a great comeback the pair formed by Sem Verbeek and Andre Göransson 2-6 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 53 minutes of play and earned their third chance to win a Slam after the finals lost last season first in Melbourne and then in Paris. A success, today’s, that was both wanted and deserved, against a pair that had knocked off the tournament’s No. 1s – Arevalo/Pavic – giving up serve only once in the entire tournament. “It was a difficult match,” the two blues recounted, “but after the first set we raised our level of play, we put energy into it and the key to the match was really the mental attitude. We always struggled and found the solution to bring home this beautiful victory.” After a standout 2024, with four trophies put in their cases on four continents (Buenos Aires, Halle, Beijing and Adelaide), all that is missing is the icing. We will have to overcome Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Britain’s Henry Patten, who beat Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, champions at the Atp Finals in Turin last November, 6-4 3-6 7-6(7). “We will come to this second consecutive final more mentally prepared – assures Vavassori – For me this is the fourth Slam final, and surely the experiences made especially at the level of mental management of this type of match will help me.” “Last year,” adds Bolelli, who won the Australian Open in 2015 but paired with Fognini, “it was a totally unexpected final, we didn’t know how to best manage the difficulties we had in managing the wait. This time for sure we will be more ready.” First, however, eyes on Jannik Sinner, expected at 9:30 a.m. Italian time on Rod Lavera Arena by Ben Shelton, executioner first of Musetti and then of Sonego. The 22-year-old from Atlanta is in his second Slam semifinal since losing at the 2023 Us Open, a year in which he also captured his only victory over the Italian, in Shanghai, before losing his next four confrontations. But the Sinner seen at work with De Minaur, with no physical woes, is the clear favorite for one of the two spots in the final, with Djokovic and Zverev vying for the other pass.
Among the women, meanwhile, the final act will feature Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys. After some uncertainty in the fourth against Pavlyuchenkova, the 26-year-old Belarusian, world and seeded number one, returns to show off her best tennis on Australian cement and puts an end to Paula Badosa’s 6-4 6-2 run. Winner of the last two editions and at the fifth Slam final of her career (the other two she reached in New York, losing in 2023 and then conquering the Us Open last September), she will surprisingly face Madison Keys, who emerged victorious in a super tie-break from her challenge with Iga Swiatek: 5-7 6-1 7-6(10-8) after more than two and a half hours of play and a match point cancelled at 5-6 in the third partial. If Melbourne remains bewitched for the Polish player (never beyond the semifinals, as was the case three years ago), the 29-year-old U.S. player thus returns to the final of a Major after losing to Sloane Stephens in New York in 2017. But another feat will be needed on Saturday considering as well that she has lost four of her five head-to-head clashes with Sabalenka, seizing her only success in 2021 in Berlin.
