Sinner demolishes De Minaur to set up Melbourne semi with Shelton
by AFP · The42LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago
DEFENDING CHAMPION JANNIK Sinner put any illness worries to bed by crushing home hope Alex de Minaur in a straight-sets rout to tee up an Australian Open semi-final against Ben Shelton.
The Italian world No 1 showed no signs of the health issues that hampered him in his last match to emphatically fly past the eighth seed 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.
He will meet stubborn American Shelton for a place in Sunday’s final against either 10-time champion Novak Djokovic or second seed Alexander Zverev.
Shelton, seeded 21, battled past another Italian, the unseeded Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) to make the Melbourne Park last four for the first time.
The writing was on the wall for De Minaur with Sinner winning all nine of their previous meetings.
He was given a glimmer of hope after Sinner battled illness in his last-16 clash, where he admitted he was “not there health-wise” and had been “a bit dizzy at times” in hot weather.
But the Italian showed no evidence of any problems on a much cooler quarter-final day.
“Yesterday was a very easy day. I played just half an hour, 40 minutes with my coaches,” Sinner said when asked about how he was feeling.
“Talking about general physical (condition), you know, I feel like, especially when you are young, you recover very fast.”
In front of a patriotic home crowd, he broke for a 3-1 lead after a draining 24-shot baseline rally.
The agile Sinner’s big ball-striking proved hard for the Australian to counter and De Minaur struggled to create chances, managing just four winners in the opening set.
The second set followed a similar pattern with Sinner bossing De Minaur and breaking immediately to take control.
He was on a mission and a forehand winner earned him another break on his way to the second set in 40 minutes, with the Australian shaking his head in disbelief.
De Minaur tried everything, but had no answers, broken twice in set three after a series of errors as Sinner powered home.
“Today I felt like I was feeling everything,” he said. “Days like this and you break quite early in each set, it’s a little bit easier,” said Sinner.
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Sinner is bidding to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time after beating Daniil Medvedev in the final last year. He also won the US Open last year.
Earlier, imperious Iga Swiatek swept into an Australian Open semi-final against Madison Keys.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek edged closer to a first Melbourne crown with a ruthless 6-1, 6-2 victory over American eighth seed Emma Navarro in gusty conditions on Rod Laver Arena.
The 23-year-old second seed is building up a head of steam in her title charge.
She has yet to drop a set and has given up only 14 games so far in her five matches — seven of those in her first-round clash against Katerina Siniakova.
“Madison is a great player and experienced so you never know,” Swiatek said of the American.
“It will be tricky, I will just be focused on myself. She has already played a good tournament here and we are well aware of how she can play.”
Keys stormed back from a set down to beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
The 19th seed moved into the last four at Melbourne Park for the third time, 10 years after her first.
Keys, who will be 30 next month, leads the WTA Tour with 12 wins this season and is now on a 10-match unbeaten streak after lifting the Adelaide title.
She had to show her resilience to fight back against 28th seed Svitolina.
“I felt like I kind of just had to start playing a little bit more aggressive and try to get to the net a little bit quicker,” said Keys, who battled past former Melbourne finalists Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins on her way to the last eight.
Two-time defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka plays Spain’s 11th seed Paula Badosa in the other semi-final.
Swiatek and Sabalenka are duelling over the top ranking.
If Sabalenka falls against Badosa on Thursday, the Pole will again rise to the top.
Should Swiatek and Sabalenka meet in the final, the winner would leave Australia with the number one crown to go with the Melbourne honours.
- Shelton Shelton grinds past Sonego -
Later on Wednesday, all-action Ben Shelton battled past stubborn Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) to reach his first Australian Open semi-final.
In a battle on Rod Laver Arena dominated by serve, Shelton had the edge over his unseeded Italian opponent for the first two sets.
The world number 55 refused to lie down however and took the third, before Shelton reasserted himself to win an attritional fourth set on a tiebreak.
“I’m relieved right now,” said the 22-year-old Shelton, who unleashed the joint-fastest serve of the tournament, clocked at 232kph (144mph).
“Shout-out to Lorenzo because that was some ridiculous tennis,” added Shelton, who reached only his second Grand Slam semi-final.
His first came at the 2023 US Open, where he was beaten by eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
“I’m just really happy to be through, getting my first win here on Rod Laver,” added the left-hander, who is making his third Australian Open appearance.
Both players benefited from a quarter of the draw that was left wide open — after the early exits of top-10 seeds Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev — to reach the last eight.
All four sets were a tight affair and Shelton saved three break points to level at 3-3 in the first, finally manufacturing a break when the Italian went long in the ninth game.
Shelton sealed the opener with his monstrous ace.
Sonego then came up with one of the shots of the tournament to save a break point in the next game.
The Italian dived full-length for a drop volley that spun so wickedly it bounced back over the net before Shelton could retrieve.
It brought a huge smile and congratulatory fist bump from the American as Sonego milked the ovation from a packed Rod Laver Arena.
Shelton extended his lead to two sets courtesy of a rocket forehand winner, but Sonego wasn’t finished and clawed back a set with a late break in the third.
Shelton finally got over the line via a tiebreak to secure his last-four berth in 3hr 50min.