Seventh seed Alexander Zverev leads fourth seed Dominic Thiem 6-3 on Friday in the Australian Open semi-finals. The winner will play seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.

Zverev elected to receive and the decision reaped dividends with a service break, but Thiem got back immediately. Light rain began to fall in the fourth game and briefly suspended play and it was until 3-3, that Zverev put his foot on the accelerator, winning 10 straight points to a 5-3 lead and 0/30 on Thiem’s serve. Zverev clinched the 40-minute opener when Thiem hit a backhand into the net.

Thiem leads their ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-2, including a straight-sets win last year in the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals.

Once Novak Djokovic reaches the semi-finals of the Australian Open, he has proven himself tougher than ever.

After defeating six-time champion Roger Federer in Thursday evening’s semi-final, the Serbian is now 15-0 once he reaches the last four at the season’s first Grand Slam. On Sunday, he will have a chance to lift his eighth trophy in Melbourne, extending his own all-time record.

Most Australian Open Titles (All-Time)

“I feel comfortable and confident playing in Australia,” Djokovic said after his first-round win against Tatsuma Ito. “[The] history of my results here has been very positive.”

Not only has Djokovic won in the late stages of the Australian Open, but he has dominated. The World No. 2, who will return to No. 1 on Monday if he captures the title, has only lost 10 sets in his 15 matches from the semi-finals on Down Under. What is perhaps more impressive is who he beat in those clashes.

Twelve of Djokovic’s 15 semi-final or final wins at this event have come against players ranked inside the world’s Top 5 at the time. The only exceptions are the 2008 final, in which he defeated then-World No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2015 championship against then-World No. 6 Andy Murray, and last year’s semi-finals in which he dismissed then-World No. 31 Lucas Pouille.

Djokovic has only lost five sets in seven finals at the Australian Open, with three of his championship triumphs coming in straight sets. The 32-year-old has a chance to make even more history on Sunday, when he faces Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic’s Longest Sets-Won Streaks In Melbourne

The Serbian’s personal best number of consecutive sets won at this major is 18, when he won the trophy for the first time in 2008. Djokovic has won 16 straight sets this year, going back to the final set of his first-round victory against powerful German Jan-Lennard Struff. So if the second seed does not lose a set on Sunday, he will have captured the title by claiming his final 19 sets.

It would also be the third time Djokovic has won multiple Australian Open titles in a row (2011-13, 2015-16). His longest winning streak here stretched from 2011-14, when he emerged the victor in 25 straight matches, ultimately losing in the 2014 quarter-finals in five sets against eventual champion Stan Wawrinka.

It’s been a successful fortnight for Team Djokovic at the Australian Open, as seven-time champion Novak Djokovic is now only one victory away from lifting his eighth trophy in Melbourne. But the Serbian hasn’t been the only member of his team to have a big tournament.

On Monday, the International Tennis Hall of Fame revealed in Melbourne that Goran Ivanisevic, one of Djokovic’s coaches, will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this July.

“I’m really glad to see him enter the Hall of Fame this year. He is a great friend. He has been a mentor for many years to me,” Djokovic said. “I’ve seen him on the Tour, of course, when he was finishing his career. Also the past seven or eight years I’ve seen him a lot as a coach of other players. He’s a great guy. [We] speak the same language, come from very similar cultures. He was one of my heroes growing up. We go back since I was 12 years old. I do share some really nice moments with him throughout my upbringing and my evolution as a tennis player.”

Djokovic brought Ivanisevic onboard at Wimbledon last year, joining Marian Vajda. Djokovic triumphed at SW19, and also won titles in Tokyo and Paris last season before leading Serbia to ATP Cup glory to begin 2020. The World No. 2 feels Ivanisevic has been a valuable member of his team.

“He brings obviously a little bit of a different style of coaching than Marian, but they are working synergistically very well. They complement each other,” Djokovic said. “Goran, his philosophy has always been less is more, kind of giving the right information to the player, then understanding how a player can actually benefit from that. He likes to simplify things. It’s working well.”

Ivanisevic, who climbed as high as No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, won 22 titles and 599 matches at tour-level, with his biggest triumph coming at Wimbledon in 2001 as a wild card.

“He has been a significant part of my growth as a tennis player,” Djokovic said. “To have him in my corner, in my box, is really a great honour and great pleasure.”