The Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner beat the American Ben Shelton with a score of 3 sets to 0 (7-6, 6-2, 6-2) and qualified for the final of the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments , the main ones in tennis. On Sunday morning he will face German Alexander Zverev, who won the other semi-final, following Novak Djokovic’s retirement after one set.
The first set was the most balanced and complicated for Sinner, who had to cancel two set points when the score was 6-5 for Shelton; in the following tie break (i.e. the special game that is played when the players are 6 games equal) Sinner played almost perfectly, winning it 7-2 and therefore obtaining the first set. In the second Shelton had a decline, probably due to the missed opportunity in the first set, and in fact Sinner won it easily 6-2. In the third, after an initial balance, Sinner demonstrated his mental and technical superiority over his opponent, also winning that one 6-2.
For Sinner it will be the third final in a Grand Slam tournament, the second consecutive at the Australian Open: last year he beat Daniil Medvedev 3 sets to 2, after being 2 sets behind. He played and won the other Slam final last September at the US Open. It will also be the third Slam final for Zverev: he lost both the previous two, in 2020 at the US Open and in 2024 at Roland Garros. Sinner and Zverev are number 1 and number 2 in the world rankings.
