Jannik Sinner’s only challenge en route to the Australian Open quarter-finals did not come in the form of a specific opponent.
That story could change on Wednesday.
Brutal weather conditions were what brought the two-time defending champions close to defeat in the third round. The heat shouldn’t be a problem on Wednesday; now it’s the player on the other side of the net who poses a threat.
Although Sinner dominates his head-to-head series against Ben Shelton 8-1, the American’s enormous play makes him dangerous every day. Shelton was just that in their very first meeting, as the American committed a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) error at the 2023 Shanghai Masters. Since then, though, it’s all Sinner. The Italian’s eight-match winning streak includes seventeen sets won in a row, although Shelton at least managed to force tiebreaks in seven of those seventeen sets. They last faced each other a few months ago at the Nitto ATP Finals, where Sinner prevailed 6-3, 7-6(3).
This also marks a rematch of the 2025 Aussie Open semi-finals, in which Sinner recorded a 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2 win en route to a second consecutive title.
However, Shelton looks like an even more complete player 12 months later. The 23-year-old is ranked No. 7 in the world and would almost certainly be ranked even higher had he not suffered a shoulder injury at the US Open. He has been a particularly consistent force at Grand Slams. In 2025, Shelton’s only loss came without a retirement prior to a quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round at Roland Garros. The former NCAA singles champion is back in the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park after convincing wins over Ugo Humbert, Dane Sweeny, Valentin Vacherot and Casper Ruud. Shelton is now 15-3 years old at this event.
Sinner came dangerously close to exiting this tournament on Saturday when he found himself tied at one set with Eliot Spizzirri, suffered a break in the third and suffered cramps in his hands and legs. But then the heat rule went into effect, the roof of Rod Laver Arena was closed and the rest is history. Sinner was a very different player the rest of the way and got the job done against Spizzirri 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
The world number 2 has also made progress with outright defeats to Hugo Gaston, James Duckworth and Luciano Darderi. Sinner is on an 18-match winning streak in Melbourne and is 35-3 in his last 38 sets dating back to the 2024 final against Daniil Medvedev.
This feels like it will be a relatively typical Sinner-Shelton result, with the underdog doing everything but throwing the kitchen sink at his nemesis, but falling a little short in the pressure moments. A tiebreaker or even two can be expected, but Sinner will almost certainly have the upper hand.
Choice: sinner in 3
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