Sinner e Shelton, tennis players (rainews.it)
Jannik Sinner is in a Slam semifinal for the fifth time: the number 1 in the ranking, one step away from the 2025 title, defends the Masters won a year ago. The Italian’s unbeaten streak in Melbourne rises to 12 consecutive matches: the last in chronological order is the helpless Alex de Minaur, the favorite of the home crowd, who continues to fail to find victories against Sinner. In fact, out of 10 matches, the Australian has always lost, the eighth consecutive match without leaving even a set to his opponent (6-3, 6-2, 6-1 the final score). Few opportunities to put Sinner in difficulty, who in some moments of the match seemed to want to train.
In the semi-final, the Italian will face the American Ben Shelton, the hitter: the n.20 in the ranking beat the Italian Lorenzo Sonego in four sets, not without difficulty, extinguishing the dream of the Turin player – in his first Slam quarter-final – of a possible all-Italian derby.
Naturally for Jannik it is the second consecutive semi-final at the AO: it is the first Slam in which he reaches this milestone twice, having played a semi-final at Wimbledon in 2023, at Roland Garros in 2024 and again last year at the US Open, then winning in the final against Taylor Fritz. Now the blue will return to the field for the semi-final on Friday 24 January. The world number one’s next match will be played no earlier than 9:30 (Italian time) against Shelton – who eliminated Sonego – and will therefore put qualification for Sunday’s final at stake. Sinner will therefore have just over 24 hours to recover his energy and prepare for the new match as best as possible.
Zverev-Djokovic (gettyimages)
-The other semi-final saw the “old lion” Djokovic take the field, eliminating Alcaraz, and Zverev beating Tommy Paul.
The number two seed, Zverev will face Novak Djokovic, after beating the American Tommy Paul in four sets, 7-6 7-6 2-6 6-1 after 3h28′, more concrete and cynical than his opponent in the hot moments of the match challenge like the two tie-breaks, which he literally dominated 7-1 and 7-0. For his part, Paul, who after winning the previous two had to give way for the first time to the twenty-seven year old from Hamburg, played an excellent match but, apart from the third set in which he prevailed also because he let go of his arm finding himself with his back against the wall, he too often melted like snow in the sun in moments when he instead had to attack the match and the opponent.
What to say about Djokovic, he won a superlative match against Alcaraz, “I just wish this match had been the final”, commented the Serbian after the three and a half hour match against the Spaniard which projected him to the semi-finals. The match between the Serbian in search of his 25th slam title and the Spaniard no.3 in the world had all the characteristics of a final, in terms of tension and quality of the game, suspense and competitive spirit, so much so that the winner himself defined it “one of the most epic matches I have played on this pitch”.
Morocco
