Jannik Sinner beats Ben Shelton to set up Australian Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic

MELBOURNE – Reigning champion Jannik Sinner will face 24-time Major winner Novak Djokovic in an exciting Australian Open semi-final matchup, after taming Ben Shelton in straight sets on Jan 28.

The Italian second seed swatted aside his American eighth-seeded opponent 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and has dropped only one set in moving ominously into the last four.

On facing Djokovic, Sinner said: “These are moments you practise for. I will wake up in the morning and will look forward to playing a good match, hopefully. If you want to win, you have to play at your best.

“In the past I have had great lessons and it doesn’t really matter the result, it improves you as a player and a person.

“We are lucky to still have Novak here, playing incredible tennis at his age. We play for you guys but we also play for us, so hopefully it’s going to be a great battle out here. But of course it’s going to be very, very difficult.”

Sinner has now become the fifth man in the Open era (since 1968) to reach six or more consecutive Grand Slam singles semi-finals, following Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

The other semi-final at Melbourne Park is between his great rival, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, and third-ranked Alexander Zverev.

Sinner and Shelton came into their quarter-final with the Italian having won eight of their nine previous meetings in straight sets.

The left-handed Shelton has got the better of Sinner just once, in their first encounter at the Shanghai Masters in 2023.

Sinner’s dominance includes winning their Melbourne semi-final clash in 2025 and it was to be more of the same on a cool evening at Rod Laver Arena on Jan 28.

He raced into a 4-1 lead in the first set as he sent Shelton, who is a year younger at 23, scurrying to all corners of the court.

A Sinner ace sealed the first set in 49 minutes and, despite having the crowd willing him on, Shelton was broken again in falling two sets down.

Four-time Major champion Sinner was imperious and looked unflustered on the few occasions that the aggressive Shelton put him under the cosh.

They went with serve in the third set and Shelton did his best to feed off what

he has approvingly called a “rowdy” Melbourne crowd

.

But he struck his 33rd unforced error to give Sinner three break points and, after saving one of them, a double fault from the American gifted his opponent a 5-4 lead and the Italian duly closed out the victory.

Djokovic, a record 10-time winner in Melbourne, awaits Sinner in the semi-finals after his Italian opponent Lorenzo Musetti retired hurt while holding a two-set lead over the Serb in their quarter-final.

“First of all it’s very, very tough to play Ben. Huge, huge serve,” added Sinner. “I feel like he’s improving so much year after year. Especially after the off-season you never know how certain players are gonna play against you... (they are) changing a lot of things.

“Very happy about today’s performance. As always, thanks for the support. It’s amazing to play here on this court. Let’s see what’s coming.” AFP, REUTERS