Novak Djokovic has long earmarked Jannik Sinner as a potential successor.
And at the Australian Open, the event which Djokovic has dominated the most in his long and storied career, the Italian produced a performance that suggested this might finally have been a changing of the guard.
Admittedly, the same was said last season when Carlos Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, only for the Serbian to go on to win the US Open and ATP Tour Finals.
But with Sinner, it felt different. He had beaten Djokovic in two of their previous three meetings – in the group stages of those ATP Tour Finals and again at the Davis Cup.
And even though Djokovic had never lost his 10 previous semi-finals in Melbourne and had the majority of the home support, this felt like a 50-50 contest from the outset.
It proved anything but as Sinner raced well clear and left his far more experienced opponent scrabbling to stay in touch in a 6-1 6-2 6-7 6-3 triumph.
In the other semi-final, Daniil Medvedev had to come through five sets for the third time this year to beat Alexander Zverev and reach his third final in Melbourne.
In the earlier last-four encounter, Djokovic clearly struggled physically in the opening two sets, leading to question marks over whether he can extend that Grand Slam-winning record past the current total of 24.
For all his struggles, the world No1 again showed a remarkable ability to stay in the contest. He faced a match point in the third set tiebreak, forced a forehand error from his opponent and suggested that a comeback might be on the cards.
Eight times Djokovic had come from two sets down to win a Grand Slam match, Sinner all too aware of the threat having been two sets up in their Wimbledon encounter back in 2022.
But in the end, Sinner kept up his level of intensity to break Djokovic midway through the fourth set and, try as he might, the older man could not quite claw his way back into the match.
Afterwards, Sinner, who has dropped just one set on his route to the final, said: “It was a very very tough match. I started off really well.
"For two sets I felt like he was not feeling that great on court. In the third set I had match point but I missed the forehand. But I tried to be ready for the next set which I started off really well.”
How seismic a shift in tennis’ world order this proves to be remains to be seen. But at 36, Djokovic will be left to wonder if he can add to his 10 Australian Open titles.
As for Medvedev, he has lost twice in the final in Melbourne: once to Djokovic and once to Rafael Nadal.
Like Djokovic in his match, he struggled early on against Zverev and fell behind two sets, struggling with his all-round game and double faulting in the first set alone.
But he recovered in some style to force two tiebreaks - both of which he edged - before taking the win 5-6, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.
