By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

MELBOURNE, Australia — Of all of his considerable talents, Novak Djokovic’s ability to cast aside whatever appears to stand in his way might be the most valuable.

So forget about the potential distraction of his father’s decision to stay away from Rod Laver Arena for Djokovic’s semifinal against unseeded American Tommy Paul at the Australian Open on Friday. Forget about the heavily taped left hamstring that was an issue for Djokovic last week. Forget about just how physical the points were against Paul. Forget about how Djokovic produced twice as many unforced errors, 24, as winners, 12, in the opening set. Forget about the lull of four games in a row that went to Paul. Forget about the brief back-and-forth with the chair umpire.

And simply remember this: Djokovic simply does not lose in the semifinals or final at Melbourne Park. Does. Not. Lose. And so, not surprisingly, he overcame some shaky play in the early going and took over the match, beating Paul, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2, to close in on a 10th Australian Open championship and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.

“I’m really thankful that I still have enough gas in my legs to able to play at this level,” said Djokovic, a 35-year-old from Serbia. “Some long rallies, you could really feel them. We both had heavy legs in the first set. I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key. After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”

He extended his Australian Open winning streak to 27 matches, the longest in the Open era, which dates to 1968.

There was a pause in that string of victories a year ago, of course, when Djokovic was deported from Australia before the tournament began because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. He still has not gotten the shots, but the strict border controls established by the country during the pandemic have been eased.

On Sunday (late Saturday night PT), No. 4 seed Djokovic will take on No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who eliminated Karen Khachanov, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3, to reach his first final at Melbourne Park and second at a Slam.

Whoever wins the final will rise to No. 1 in the ATP rankings. For Djokovic, that would mark a return to a spot he has occupied for more weeks than anyone; for Tsitsipas, it would mark a debut there.

“I like that number. It’s all about you. It’s singular. It’s ‘1,’” said Tsitsipas, who was 0-3 in Australian Open semifinals before Friday. “These are the moments that I’ve been working hard for.”

Djokovic is now a perfect 19-0 over the last two rounds in Melbourne, and his nine triumphs there already are a men’s record. If he can add one more to go alongside his seven titles at Wimbledon, three at the U.S. Open and two at the French Open, Djokovic would equal Nadal for the most Grand Slam trophies earned by a man.

“Winning Grand Slams and being the No. 1 in the world is probably the two biggest peaks that you can climb as a professional tennis player,” said Djokovic, who is 10-2 against Tsitsipas, taking the last nine encounters in a row. “So let’s see what happens.”

Tsitsipas’ other major final came at the 2021 French Open, when he grabbed the first two sets before blowing that big lead and losing to Djokovic in five.

Which was all related to an amusing moment this week, when Djokovic said about Tsitsipas: “He has never played a final, am I wrong?” Reminded by reporters about what happened at Roland Garros, Djokovic replied: “That’s right. Sorry, my bad.”

Asked about that exchange, Tsitsipas responded with a deadpan expression and the words: “I don’t remember, either.”

Until this week, the 35th-ranked Paul never had been past the fourth round in 13 previous appearances at majors.

The 25-year-old was born in New Jersey and grew up in North Carolina, playing tennis at a club where the walls were festooned with posters of Andy Roddick – the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title, way back at the 2003 U.S. Open. That drought will continue for now, because even though Djokovic was not at his best in the opening set, he was good enough at the end of it, breaking in the last game, and never relented.

The blips for Djokovic arrived right at the outset.

The footwork was not up to his usual reach-every-ball standard. The shotmaking was subpar. The serving was so-so. He started gesturing and shouting in the direction of coach Goran Ivanisevic and the rest of this entourage.

In the first game, Djokovic flubbed an overhead, a weakness he’s never solved. He dumped a backhand into the net. He double-faulted. Still, he overcame that to get off to a 5-1 lead. Then came a quick switch in direction.

Djokovic got broken when serving for the set there. And again at 5-3, when Paul walloped a down-the-line forehand and Djokovic’s backhand on a 29-stroke point landed out. Paul held for 5-all.

Might he be making a match of it?

Not for much longer. Djokovic, the greatest returner of his, or maybe any, generation, broke to close that set when Paul sent a forehand wide. Serbian flags were displayed throughout the stands and Rod Laver Arena was filled with chants of Djokovic’s two-syllable nickname, “No-le! No-le!”

The contest was never much of a contest from there on out.

Tsitsipas had a harder time strictly following the rules governing the 25-second serve clock and foot-faults than he did outplaying Khachanov for nearly three full sets, then recovered after blowing two match points late in the third.

Tsitsipas – who lost in the Melbourne semis to Nadal in 2019, and to Daniil Medvedev in 2021 and 2022 – regained his footing quickly, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the fourth and closing out the win about 40 minutes after his initial opportunity.

“If you stick around, if you dedicate yourself even more and if you concentrate on these important moments,” Tsitsipas said, “it pays off quite well.”

For about 2½ hours at Rod Laver Arena, the 24-year-old from Greece showed a game that was too versatile, and strokes that were too consistent from all over the court, for Khachanov, a Russian who is now 0-2 in Slam semifinals.

The biggest issue for Tsitsipas in that span, truthfully, appeared to be trying to deal with the watchful eyes of the match officials monitoring the 25-second clock and the position of his feet.

Chair umpire Nico Helwerth’s first warning for a time violation came while Tsitsipas served for the first set at 5-3, love-15. Perhaps distracted, he double-faulted to trail love-30 and eventually got broken there.

The serve clock elapsed again at 5-all, love-15, and the second infraction resulted in an automatic fault, prompting Tsitsipas’ father – who coaches him, along with former player Mark Philippoussis – to stand up from his courtside seat. Again, Tsitsipas then double-faulted, again to fall behind love-30, but this time he managed to hold serve, and he was by far superior in the ensuing tiebreaker, able to ignore a foot-fault call that came at 3-1.

There were more foot-faults in the second set, and after one, Helwerth explained the problem: Tsitsipas’ back foot was extended too far behind him while serving from the Deuce side, putting his shoe beyond the middle line.

Tsitsipas would go on to break to 5-4, helped by a wild point in which he got back three overheads by Khachanov, eliciting roars from the many spectators waving blue-and-white Greek flags. Soon, he grabbed that set. He broke again to lead 2-1 in the third but failed to slam the door shut.

“I’m extremely happy that I’m in the final now,” Tsitsipas said afterward, “and let’s see what happens. Couldn’t be more ready for this moment.”

RYBAKINA, SABALENKA READY FOR WOMEN’S FINAL

Aryna Sabalenka figures she’ll feel some jitters when she steps out on the court to face Elena Rybakina in the women’s final.

Saturday’s contest (late Friday night PT) is, after all, Sabalenka’s first singles title match at a Grand Slam tournament. Rybakina is more familiar with this stage: She won Wimbledon a little more than six months ago.

“That’s OK, to feel little bit nervous. It’s a big tournament, big final,” Sabalenka said. “If you’re going to start trying to do something about that, it’s going to become bigger, you know?”

She is seeded No. 5; Rybakina is No. 22. Sabalenka is a 24-year-old from Belarus; Rybakina is a 23-year-old who was born in Moscow and began representing Kazakhstan in 2018 when that country offered to fund her tennis career.

“For me, this time, I would say it was a bit easier, compared to Wimbledon, when I was playing for the first time (in a major) quarters, semis, final,” said Rybakina, the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to beat three past Grand Slam champions during one edition at Melbourne Park.

That run includes victories over three-time Slam winner and Iga Swiatek, 2012-13 Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and 2017 French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko, along with Danielle Collins, the runner-up at Melbourne a year ago.

Both Rybakina and Sabalenka are among the most powerful players on tour, using big serves and groundstrokes to overwhelm opponents. It’s a style that evokes the way the Williams sisters went about winning when they began to transform the sport – and rather different from the way the current No. 1, Iga Swiatek, and her predecessor, the retired Ash Barty, went about things.

“As a matchup, I mean, it’s going to be a lot of mistakes, a lot of winners, I’m sure about that, from both sides, because there is going to be a lot of pressure,” said Stefano Vukov, Rybakina’s coach. “I think who serves well tomorrow goes through. That’s my feeling.”

Both finalists are indeed capable of terrific serving, which was not always the case for Sabalenka.

She has won a tournament-high 89% of her service games, holding in 49 of 55, meaning she has been broken an average of just once per match. It’s a significant development for someone who struggled mightily with double-faulting last year, accumulating nearly 400 over the course of the season, including more than 20 in some matches.

But Sabalenka reworked the mechanics on her serve during a five-day session less than a month before the U.S. Open, where she got to the semifinals. Something else Sabalenka has improved that has made her a better player: the way she manages her mindset during a match.

Instead of “screaming after some bad points or some errors” the way she used to, Sabalenka said she now tries to “hold myself, stay calm, just think about the next point. … Just less negative emotions.”

Rybakina rarely lets so much as the slightest trace of emotion show, even when she clinched the championship at the All England Club.

Both tend to seek to put an end to points with quick strikes from the baseline.

Sabalenka has managed to keep the ledger tilted quite a bit in her favor, accumulating 196 winners (32.7 per match) and 136 unforced errors (22.7 per match). Rybakina’s numbers are more even, averaging 26.3 winners and 24.8 unforced errors.

This will be their fourth head-to-head meeting, and Sabalenka is 3-0 so far, winning each in three sets, although they haven’t played each other since Wimbledon in 2021.

Since then, Sabalenka’s coach, Anton Dubrov observed, “Aryna lost (her) serve. Then she found the serve. Meanwhile, Rybakina won a Slam. They both kind of came here from different directions. So I would say … all previous matches don’t matter at all. It’s going to be something really new.”