World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Friday turned the youngest man to achieve back-to-back Australian Open finals since Jim Courier in 1992.
The 23-year-old Italian prolonged his hard-court main streak to 20 wins with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 rout of American Ben Shelton within the semifinal. He additionally turned the youngest to go 20-0 at laborious court docket majors since John McEnroe in 1981.
Sinner hasn’t misplaced a match at a hard-court main since his fourth-round loss to Alexander Zverev on the 2023 U.S. Open. He would comply with that loss along with his first two main titles, the 2024 Australian Open and U.S. Open.
By the way, Sinner will face Zverev within the Australian Open closing this Sunday, with the chance to increase his unreal run at grand slams. Waiting for the match, Sinner is aware of a troublesome check awaits him. Zverev holds a 4-2 head-to-head record in opposition to Sinner, despite the fact that the latter gained their final encounter on the 2024 Cincinnati 1000 Masters.
“We had some very robust matches previously,” Sinner stated of Zverev, via AusOpen.com. “All the pieces can occur. He is an unbelievable participant, on the lookout for his first main. There’s going to be once more plenty of stress however I’m completely happy to [put] myself on this place.”
With a 100% win document in main finals, Sinner enters Sunday’s match because the overwhelming favourite regardless of his 4 earlier losses to Zverev. The Italian is attempting to change into the primary since Rafael Nadal (2005-06) to efficiently defend a maiden main title.
Sinner hasn’t misplaced a match since dropping to Carlos Alcaraz within the closing of the Beijing Open final October.
