Jannik Sinner eases into Australian Open SFs | ATP Tour

Match Report

Sinner continues De Minaur dominance, eases into Australian Open SFs

World No. 1 will play Shelton in last four

January 22, 2025

Jannik Sinner appeared a man in a hurry on Wednesday night at the Australian Open.

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings cruised to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final triumph against home favourite Alex de Minaur to keep alive his hopes of lifting back-to-back titles at the hard-court major in Melbourne. Sinner, who entered the match having dropped just one set in nine previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with De Minaur, motored to a one-hour, 48-minute victory with a clinical display of baseline hitting inside Rod Laver Arena.

“I feel like today I was feeling everything,” said Sinner, who will take on Ben Shelton in the semi-finals, in his on-court interview. “On days like this, when you break quite early in each set, it’s a little bit easier. He’s a tough competitor and an amazing player… We know each other quite well now. We’ve played each other so many times and we try to understand each others games, and try to prepare ourselves in the best possible way.

“These kinds of matches, they can go quickly, but also they can change very fast if I go down with my level a little bit and he takes opportunities. I’m very happy about my performance today.”

Sinner showed some vulnerability in his four-set fourth-round win against Holger Rune, during which he visibly struggled with illness. In contrast, Wednesday’s rout against De Minaur was a reminder of the kind of level the Italian has hit regularly across the past 18 months. He crushed the ball off both wings from the baseline, producing such power that even his fleet-of-foot opponent was regularly pressed for time.

After notching the only break of serve of the opening set in the fourth game, Sinner dialled in further to race to the finish line. He finished the match having converted six of 10 break points he earned, according to Infosys Stats, while he dropped just 10 points on his own delivery overall.

“Yesterday was a very easy day,” said Sinner, when asked how he had overcome the illness which affected him against Rune. “I played just half an hour or 40 minutes with my coaches. They gave me a good rhythm. Talking about general physicality, especially when you are young, you recover very fast. I really like to sleep, so I just tried to rest in the best possible way and not do so many things. I just tried to relax, recover and to get ready for the quarter-final.”

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With his victory, Sinner extended his winning streak at hard-court Grand Slam events to 19 matches, following his Australian Open title run a year ago and his triumph at the 2024 US Open. The next challenge awaiting the 23-year-old Italian at Melbourne Park this year is a sixth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Shelton, who earlier defeated Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4).

Despite his disappointing exit, De Minaur can reflect on another rock-solid Grand Slam showing after reaching the quarter-finals at his home major for the first time. The 25-year-old has now reached the last eight at the past four Grand Slam tournaments.