Melbourne: Defending champion Jannik Sinner continued his dominant run at the Australian Open, dismissing American eighth seed Ben Shelton in straight sets to reach the semi-finals and set up a blockbuster clash with Novak Djokovic.
The second-seeded Italian was clinical on Rod Laver Arena, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to extend his unbeaten streak in Melbourne since 2023 and remain firmly on course for a rare Australian Open three-peat.
Shelton, who had dropped just one set en route to his third Australian Open quarter-final, was again unable to unlock Sinner’s precision and pace.
The Italian exposed the American’s backhand, rushed him on the forehand side and dictated play from the baseline to improve his Head2Head record to 9–1. All four of their Grand Slam meetings—twice in Australia and twice at Wimbledon—have gone Sinner’s way.
“It is very tough to play against Ben,” Sinner said after the match. “He has a huge serve and is improving year after year. I am very happy with today’s performance.”
Rock-solid behind his first serve and relentless in longer rallies, Sinner never allowed Shelton to gain momentum. He broke early in the opening set and closed it with an emphatic 18–4 winners-to-unforced-errors ratio. The pressure only intensified in the second set, where Shelton squandered all three break points and leaked 17 unforced errors.
Despite appearing to struggle briefly in the latter stages of the second set, Sinner regained full control in the third. He secured the decisive break in the ninth game after a Shelton double fault and calmly served out the match in two hours and 23 minutes.
The victory sends Sinner into his ninth Grand Slam semi-final and third at the Australian Open. The four-time major champion will next face 10-time Melbourne winner Novak Djokovic, whom he has beaten in recent Grand Slam semi-finals at the Australian Open (2024), Roland Garros (2025) and Wimbledon (2025).
“These are the moments you practise for,” Sinner said. “If you want to win, you have to play at your best. We are lucky to still have Novak playing incredible tennis at his age.”
Source: ATP
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