His back against the wall early, Jannik Sinner rallied against Ben Shelton in a huge-hitting semifinal at Australian Open 2025 to reach a second consecutive Melbourne Park decider.
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The world No.1 saved two set points on Shelton’s serve in the opening set to sway the momentum as part of his bruising 7-6(2) 6-2 6-2 win on Friday night at Rod Laver Arena.
“It was a very tough first set, but a very crucial one,” said Sinner.
“First set is always very important. It gives you a little bit of confidence. There was a bit of tension for both of us. I’m very happy how I handled the situation today.”
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Sinner bids for a second straight title on Sunday against Alexander Zverev, and like fellow No.1 Aryna Sabalenka – who meets Madison Keys in the women’s showpiece – a third major in a row on hard courts since the start of last season.
But just by getting to Sunday, the 23-year-old became the youngest man to make multiple finals in Melbourne since Jim Courier – who interviewed him on court afterwards – more than 30 years ago.
The Italian will be tough to stop, given he extended his winning streak to 20 matches – all on hard courts – and overcame Zverev despite a dodgy hip in a three-hour, rain-affected marathon in Cincinnati last August.
The world No.2 – a winner earlier on Friday when 10-time champion Novak Djokovic retired due to his existing hamstring injury – holds a winning record against Sinner overall, though, 4-2.
“We had some very tough matches in the past,” said Sinner of Zverev.
“Everything can happen. He’s an incredible player, looking for his first major. There’s going to be again a lot of tension but I’m happy to (put) myself in this position.”
Sinner won his previous four matches against Shelton, the demonstrative left-hander who once again donned a sleeveless shirt and bandana.
The American made his breakthrough by reaching the quarterfinals at AO 2023 and has backed it up at Grand Slams thereafter, notably with a semifinal berth at both the US Open and now at Melbourne Park.
They had contested tight sets before, but Sinner mostly got the better of them. The pattern continued.
Shelton did make the better start, digging in, being solid and then ripping a forehand down the line to break for 1-0.
Shelton possesses one of tennis’ most overpowering serves, but it didn’t stop Sinner from routinely pressuring the 22-year-old.
He hit back for 2-2, showing his lightning reflexes on return in the process. Shelton already started to make adjustments, going forward to try to finish at the net.
A lung-busting 19-shot rally that ended with a Shelton drop shot floored Sinner not long after a 20-shot exchange.
The appreciative crowd lapped it up, and didn’t mind Shelton’s 216km/h second serve at 4-5, either. He duly broke for 6-5 but his two set points vanished – in different ways.
He sent a forehand unforced error into the net on a 20-shot rally, later going big on a forehand on the second set point and sending it long.
Buoyed – not that you’d know it thanks to his stoic demeanour – Sinner raced through the tiebreak. In their six head-to-head tiebreaks, Sinner has won the past five.
If that wasn’t enough for Shelton to deal with, he dropped serve from 40-15 to start the second set.
Now pressing more, his forehand misfired, including on break point in the ensuing game for one of his 55 unforced errors compared to Sinner’s 26.
The scoreboard completely favoured Sinner, although Shelton came out on top in another lengthy highlight-reel rally in the third thanks to an angled drop shot.
Sinner limped temporarily after missing a leaping backhand midway the final set, then got a rub down from the trainer for his thigh as he said cramps started to develop. Shelton’s thigh was rubbed down minutes earlier.
Sinner emerged from the change of ends more aggressive, crushing a 168km/h forehand and backhand down the line on successive points as part of an 11-point run.
“For three sets, two-and-a-half hours is quite a time, so happy to finish in three,” said Sinner.
“Very happy to be back in the final, and we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”