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3 hours ago
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Jannik Sinner will take on Novak Djokovic in another grand slam semi-final after a straight-sets win over Ben Shelton at the Australian Open.
Sinner’s dramas of the third round, when he was in serious trouble in the heat against Eliot Spizzirri, now seem a distant memory, with the two-time defending champion brushing aside big-serving Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4.
It was his third win against the American in the last five slams, and now, for the third time in the last four majors, he finds Djokovic waiting in the semi-finals after the Serbian benefited from Lorenzo Musetti’s untimely injury when up two sets to love.
“It’s very tough to play against Ben,” said Sinner. “Huge serve and I feel like he’s improving so much year after year. Very happy about today’s performance. I felt like I returned great today.”
On facing Djokovic, the 24-year-old added: “These are moments why you practise, you wake up in the morning and you look forward to play hopefully a good match. We are still lucky to have Novak here playing incredible tennis with his age. Hopefully it’s going to be a great battle.”
Sinner’s strengths will, of course, come as no surprise to Djokovic, who has not won a set against the Italian since a meeting here two years ago, losing to him at the French Open and Wimbledon last year.
They were on full display against Shelton – another man who must be sick of the sight of Sinner. Having won their first clash in the autumn of 2023, Shelton has lost all nine meetings since, failing to win a set in four grand slam encounters.
The problem for the eighth seed is that his main weapon – a serve that can reach speeds of 150mph – plays to arguably Sinner’s biggest strength in his extraordinary return.
Shelton sent down a serve of 144mph, the fastest of the tournament, in his opening service game but he was under pressure throughout a first set in which Sinner hit 18 winners and made only four unforced errors.
Sinner has been trying to add more variety to his game and he pulled a trick out of his rival Carlos Alcaraz’s book by sliding a winner around the net post in the fourth game, going on to break Shelton for the first time.
Even Sinner, who has now won 19 consecutive matches in Melbourne and 20 overall, could not quite maintain the same level over the next two sets but his dominance was never in question and a fourth consecutive slam final against Alcaraz is now looming large.
