Australian Open: Jannik Sinner crushes Australian De Minaur and advances to the semi-finals

Jannik Sinner secures his place in the semi-finals. XinHua – Hu Jingchen

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, defending champion in Melbourne, scored a 19th straight victory on Wednesday to secure his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, where he will face American Ben Shelton (20th).

A two-time Grand Slam winner, the 23-year-old Italian beat Australian Alex De Minaur (8th) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to equal the longest winning streak of his career.
Sinner is undefeated since the final of the Beijing tournament in early October 2024, where he was beaten by world number 3 Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner makes history

After a round of 16 match in which he seemed overwhelmed by the heat and admitted to suffering from “dizziness”, the world number 1 had little difficulty on Wednesday in much milder temperatures (around twenty degrees Celsius). Thanks to his victory against De Minaur, beaten ten times in as many confrontations by the Italian, Sinner becomes the first player from his country to reach the last four of the first Grand Slam of the season several times. He also equals his compatriot Nicola Pietrangeli in the ranking of the number of semi-finals played in a Grand Slam by an Italian player (5) and will become the sole holder of the record if he reaches the last four of a major tournament again in the future.

Sinner will face American left-hander Ben Shelton on Friday, who beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego (55th) in four sets earlier in the day. In the other semi-final, the ten-time winner in Melbourne Novak Djokovic (7th) will challenge the German Alexander Zverev (2nd).