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.
MORE: All the scores from Day 11 at AO 2026
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.
MORE: AO 2026 men's singles draw
“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.”
On-court interviewer Jim Courier enquired as to the Italian’s physical condition, and Sinner appeared upbeat about his overall recovery after cramping badly during his third-round win against Eliot Spizzirri earlier in the draw.
“I was struggling [against Spizzirri], we go day by day,” he said.
“I had a great win couple of days ago against a fellow Italian [Luciano Darderi] which gives you a good confidence boost. Today I felt like I was moving a little bit better, I felt like I was stronger physically … I’m very happy to be in the semis again.”
The opening two sets followed a similar pattern, with Sinner getting plenty of returns back into play before exposing Shelton’s baseline game.
The American’s serve came under the microscope for the first time during the fourth game of the match when the world No.7 couldn’t fight off a fourth break point to fall behind 3-1.
By the end of the set Sinner had put together some impressive numbers, striking 18 winners against just four unforced errors, and it was more of the same in set two.
The second seed broke for a 2-1 lead, and then survived one of his toughest games on serve all evening by fending off three Shelton break points to again extend his advantage to 3-1.
As he came out to serve for the second set at 5-4 though, something about Sinner’s body language seemed slightly off.
Despite the Italian looking a little unsure on his feet, Shelton wasn’t able to put enough balls in court to test him, and another hold got the second-best player in the world back to his courtside bench with a two-set lead.
Again the Italian wore a slight look of concern and his movement was a little tentative early in the third set, but Sinner patiently and expertly waited for his opportunity to strike.
That came in the ninth game when Shelton played an erratic few points on serve, and the Italian made no mistake closing it out on his own delivery at 5-4.
Sinner has a day off on Thursday to recover and prepare for a 11th career meeting with Djokovic. The Italian has won their past five matches.
“These are the moments that you practice for,” Sinner beamed.
“You wake up in the morning and just look forward to play hopefully a good match. If you want to win, you have to play at your best.”