Jannik Sinner is into his third successive Australian Open semifinal after beating American Ben Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday night to extend his Melbourne Park win streak to 19 matches.
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The Italian two-time defending champion made it nine victories in a row – and 22 sets in succession – against the explosive lefty to set up a Friday semifinal against Novak Djokovic, who advanced after Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire with injury earlier on Wednesday after the Italian had won the opening two sets.
Shelton’s serve wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped, while Sinner returned brilliantly during the opening two sets. When the pair found themselves engaged in baseline points, more often than not it was the Italian who was winning them.
It was an evening that wasn’t without its intrigue, however. Despite the one-sided scoreline, four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner looked a little shaky physically from the very end of the second set.
The 24-year-old appeared lacking in energy for a brief period, and his tennis suffered a slight drop in quality and intensity before he broke late in the third to seal another straight-sets success.
The result puts Sinner into a sixth successive major semifinal and keeps him on track to become the fourth player in history to win three consecutive Australian Open men’s singles titles.
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“Very happy with today’s performance,” was Sinner’s appraisal.
“It’s definitely one of the toughest challenges to return his serve, also the second serve comes with a lot of spin and the ball is bouncy here. It helps a little bit playing in the evening – it’s a bit less bouncy – but still it’s very, very difficult. But I felt like I returned great today.”