It’s match point. A fierce forehand return forces his opponent, Gustavo Fernandez, to make an unforced error. Tokito Oda celebrates as he realises the moment he has trained so hard for is now a reality. 

On his Australian Open debut, the 16-year-old from Japan has booked his spot in his first Grand Slam singles final.

The feat is even more impressive given that Oda is competing in only his third men’s draw at a Grand Slam. His first appearance at one of the majors came less than a year ago at Roland Garros when, at 16 years and 23 days old, he became the youngest man to debut at a wheelchair Grand Slam.

In battling through a tough three-setter where he saved match points before coming out a 6-2 4-6 7-5 winner in his semi-final against Fernandez, he demonstrated he is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the world's best and holding his nerve when under pressure.

“Today’s match is really special to me,” Oda said. “To come back from 5-3 down in the final set and save match point not once but two times... that was a tough match for me, but I came through and I’m really happy to have won.

“I think one of the most important things that helped me today is always thinking about my game, because there’s always somebody else playing their match on the other end. But I also always need to win against me too because I always want to play my best to get the win.

“But I always believe in myself and that I can win, always.

“The day after tomorrow, the final, it’s going to be the biggest moment of my career so far so I’m so excited for that right now.”

Oda will now face Britain’s Alfie Hewett in the final - a replay of his Melbourne Open final just a week ago

On that occasion Hewett took the title in straight sets but this is a different tournament and Oda is no stranger to getting a result against the world No. 1 on the big stage - as we saw with his straight sets victory over the British player in the final of the 2022 Wheelchair Singles Masters in Oss.

It is very much a match-up the world No. 3 is looking forward to.

“It’s always special to play against him and last week I lost so I look forward to seeing if I can take what I learnt from that loss to turn it into a win," he said. "Hopefully we will play in one of the big stadiums so I’m really excited to play him again.

And he’s hoping, just like in his semi-final, there’ll be some Japanese fans there to cheer him on and help him get over the line.

“Today there was so many Japanese people watching and cheering for us when we played so I’m hoping a lot of them can come for the final because it’s always very special to play in front of them.”

Elsewhere in the women’s and quad division draws a very familiar set of finalists will feature on Saturday’s singles finals day. 

Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji will once again rekindle their great on-court rivalry and battle it out for the women’s title.

And in the quad division, compatriots Niels Vink and Sam Schroder will go head to head in an all-Dutch contest.