Defending Australian Open Champion Sinner Reaches Third Major Final

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Australian Open TV/YouTube)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 24, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

In a battle of big ball strikers, it was Jannik Sinner who ultimately defeated Ben Shelton to reach his second straight Australian Open final Friday night.

The World No. 1 and top seed Sinner’s 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 21 seed Shelton, completed in two hours and 36 minutes on Rod Laver Arena, was his 20th consecutive tour-level win and advanced the Italian to his third major final. It was the American Shelton’s second major semifinal loss following the US Open in 2023 and his fifth career loss against Sinner.

“It was a very tough first set but very crucial,” Sinner said, after hitting 23 winners and outpointing Shelton 113-89 in improving his 2025 win-loss record to 6-0. “I felt he was not serving at his best today. The percentage was not where he would have wanted it at. I think we both returned better than we served. First sets are always very important. It gives you a lot of confidence and there was a lot of tension for both of us. I am very happy with how I handled the situation today.”

At 23, Sinner has become the youngest man to reach multiple Australian Open finals since Jim Courier of the United States in 1992-93. It was fitting that Courier conducted the on-court interview with Sinner after his semifinal win. Sinner is also 29-2 in his last five majors with two titles.

“I had a lot of tension today, some cramps,” said Sinner, who needed medical treatment for cramps in the final set. “He was also suffering a little today with his legs, so I tried to move him around and stay more aggessive, which helped a lot. These matches can go very long. Three sets, two hours and 30 minutes is quite a time, so I am happy to finish in three. I am happy to be back in the final and we will see what happens on Sunday.”

Sinner, who is 2-0 in major finals, will take his undefeated record into Sunday evening final against World No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany, who advanced by retirement over 10-time AO champion Novak Djokovic. Zverev is through to his first Australian Open final and going after his first Grand Slam title in his third appearance in the final at a major.

The No. 7 seed from Serbia retired with a muscle tear in his left leg after losing a one-hour, 21-minute first set 7-6 (5) to Zverev Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena. It ended Djokovic’s quest for an 11th Australian Open title and 25th major crown overall.

“I didn’t hit a ball since [the] Alcaraz match, so until like an hour before today’s match. I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had,” Djokovic said in his post-match news conference. “Medications and, I guess, the strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today. But yeah, towards the end of that first set I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment.

“Unfortunate ending, but I tried.”

Eighth AO title for Lapthorne

• No. 2 seeds Andy Lapthorne of Great Britain and Sam Schroeder of the Netherlands upset No. 1 seeds Guy Sasson of Israel and Niels Vick of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-4, in an hour and 34 minutes on Kia Arena to win the quad wheelchair doubles title Friday. The winners converted seven of eight break points and outpointed their opponents 59-45. It was the eighth AO title for Lapthorne.

Around the Australian Open

• No. 1 seeds Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won their sixth consecutive AO men’s wheelchair doubles title by defeating unseeded Daniel Caverzaschi of Spain and Stephane Houdet of France, 6-2, 6-4, in an hour and 33 minutes on Kia Arena. Hewett and Reid combined to hit nine winners and outpointed their opponents 57-41.

• The women’s wheelchair doubles final was won by Chinese duo Li Xiaohui and Wang Ziying over Manami Tanaka of Japan and Zhu Zhenzhen of China, 6-2, 6-3, in one hour and 16 minutes on Kia Arena. The winners converted six of nine break points and outpointed their opponents 57-41 to capture their first AO title.

• No. 5 seed Jagger Leach of the United States, son of Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport and the highest seed remaining in the junior boys’ singles draw, was upset in the semifinal round by fellow American Benjamin Willwerth in a battle of 17-year-olds, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, in one hour and 54 minutes on Court 6. Willwerth will meet No. 8 seed Henry Bernet of Switzerland, in Saturday’s final. Bernet defeated No. 7 seed Oskar Paldanius of Finland, 7-6 (6), 6-2, in an hour and 18 minutes.

• No. 2 seeds Maxwell Exsted of the United States and Jan Kumstat of Czechia defeated Ognjen Milic of Serbia and Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, 7-6 (6), 6-3, in 71 minutes on Friday to win the junior boys’ doubles title.

• The junior girls’ doubles crown was won by the sixth-seeded Penickova sisters, Annika and Kristina, who defeated No. 2 seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Watana Sonobe of Japan, 6-3, 6-4, in 63 minutes on 1573 Arena.

By the numbers 

No. 3 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andreas Vavassori of Italy will contest their second straight Australian Open men’s doubles final on Saturday evening. Their opponents are No. 6 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, whom they lost to in the first round of Wimbledon en route to the Finnish/British duo’s title run at the Championships.

The Italian pair finished runners-up to Rohan Bopanna of India and Matthew Ebden of Australia last year, and also finished runners-up at Roland-Garros last year to Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia.

“Quotable …”

“That’s the beauty of one-on-one sport. Individual sport is such that there is no replacement, there is no substitution. I could not go out now after first set and somebody comes in for me and then I rest for an hour and maybe come back or maybe come back for the next match and my team wins. It doesn’t happen in our sport. If you in a way don’t show up and if something is wrong, you’re out. But that’s, again the sport we are part of. I love it. I think it has given me the opportunity to be here. So there’s a lot to be grateful for and really proud of.”

– Novak Djokovic of Serbia, during his post-match news conference Friday, after retiring from his semifinal match with Alexander Zverev after one set.

Search

Brigitte Urban
Tennis photographer
camera lens

International Blogs

Dietmar Kaspar

Schwaben Open kehren 2025 in die bayerischen Sommerferien zurück

December 16, 2024

Robert Frank

TCG Charity Cup bringt 13.000 Euro für den guten Zweck

October 16, 2024

Florian Heer

Apostolos Tsitsipas: “Coaching ist etwas Persönliches!”

September 4, 2024

Podcast

Categories