Djokovic stops Karatsev's surprise and reaches the final of the Australian Tennis Championships

Serbian Novak Djokovic, the world number one, was freed from the pain in his stomach muscles, and easily stopped the Russian 114th world-ranked Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the ninth final day in the Australian Open and the 28th in the major tournaments in tennis.

The 33-year-old Serbian, who is searching for his ninth title, will meet in Melbourne in the final scheduled for Sunday between Russia's Daniel Medvedev IV and Greece's Stephanos Tsitsipas VI on Friday, after defeating Austrian Dominic Teim last year.

Regarding his preference in the final, Djokovic explained in a press statement after hitting 30 winning balls and 17 aces, "I have no preference. At the level of level, Medvedev gives the best performance, perhaps in the last three or four months," noting that he will eat popcorn when watching their upcoming confrontation. "Their confrontation is always strong. I'll buy popcorn to have fun."

On Tsitsipas, who excluded the Spaniard Nadal and denied him the only record for the number of major tournaments by beating him in five sets, trailing 0-2, Djokovic added, "Stefanos did a great age to catch things. It was the most beautiful match so far in the tournament, a high level."

Djokovic, who was unable to train between matches due to pain, hopes to recover before the final. "I will probably (train) Saturday. Recovery is priority now. I feel the ball is better now."

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