Jannik Sinner blows away even Shelton: he’s in the semifinals at the Australian Open

Jannik Sinner is back in the semifinals at the Australian Open. The world and seeded number two beats Ben Shelton, number 7 in the ATP rankings and number 8 in the seedings, for the ninth consecutive time in three sets, with a final score of 6-3 6-4 6-4 after just over two and a half hours of play. For the South Tyrolean champion, this is the third consecutive semifinal in Melbourne, the ninth in a Grand Slam tournament: he will face Novak Djokovic, who benefited from the very unfortunate withdrawal of Lorenzo Musetti, who was forced to raise the white flag in a two-set lead.

Luca Giorgetti

Complicated start for Sinner, who immediately faces a break ball but clears it with his serve and holds the serve on the advantages. Shelton also struggles on serve and advantages are a constant in the early games. In the fourth game Jannik takes measures in response and on the fourth break point he scores thanks to a forehand error by the American. Sinner confirms the break at zero and comes close to an encore in the sixth game but the American climbs back from 15-40. With two more turnovers held to zero the Blue makes the first set his.

In the second partial, too, the break soon arrived for Sinner: in the third game the world number two dragged Shelton to the advantages and thanks to a couple of forehand errors by the American went up 2-1. The next game is a key moment: Jannik clears three break points and confirms the break (3-1). It is a hard blow for Shelton, who can no longer win an’opportunity to get back into the set: Sinner, in fact, closes on the first set point and goes ahead by two sets.

The third set is the most balanced: Shelton nullifies two dangerous break points in the fifth game and keeps his head ahead (3-2). Sinner is relentless on serve and in the final set places the’decisive stretch. Shelton surrendered in the ninth game with a double fault and the Azure, called upon to serve for the match, did not let himself be begged, closing on the second match point.

Sinner will return to the court on Friday in the penultimate act of the Australian Slam with Djokovic, while in the other semifinal they will face Carlos Alcaraz, world and seeded number one, and Alexander Zverev, number three in the ATP rankings and seedings.