Jannik Sinner is hoping for a “great fight” in the Australian Open semi-finals against Novak Djokovic as he attempts to complete a consecutive hat-trick of titles in Melbourne.
Hopefully it will be some great semi-finals, we are all still very happy to be here. We’ll see how it goes Jannik Sinner
The world number 2 defeated American eighth seed Ben Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4 to seal his date with the Serbian and would face Carlos Alcarez or Alexander Zverev in the decider.
The win would be his fourth in a row against 10-time champion Djokovic at this stage of a major, including one in which he claimed his first crown down under.
And the Italian seizes his opportunity against an opponent who is looking for a record 25th Slam and who came through against Sinner compatriot Lorenzo Musetti, the fifth seed, who retired injured when two sets went up.
Sinner, 24, told the crowd at Rod Laver Arena: “These are the moments you practice for. You wake up in the morning and just look forward to having a good match, and if you want to win you have to do your best.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve had great lessons in the past, which make you better as a player and as a person.”
“We are so lucky to have Novak here. He is playing incredible tennis at his age (38). We play for you, but we also play for us, so hopefully it will be a great battle here, but of course it will be very, very difficult.”
“Hopefully it will be a few nice semi-finals, we are all still very happy to be here. We will see how it goes.”
Sinner dominated Shelton as he secured his ninth Slam semi-final with a 19th victory in Melbourne after the jump.
In fact, he has now won all 18 sets in which he played against the American at a major.
Shelton tried to mix it up, but Sinner stayed focused and got the job done.
The American had a big serve, but the Italian’s return made an impression.
And Sinner’s work when he got into the net was more than decent, as evidenced by the fact he set up three match points with a delicate drop volley after stretching Shelton wide on the previous shot.
(Photo by Huang Shangyue/VCG via Getty Images)
Sinner failed to get the first, but Shelton was quickly put out of his misery.
He said: “It’s very difficult to play against Ben. He’s got a huge, huge serve and I feel like he’s improving so much year after year. Especially after the off-season you never know how certain players are going to play against you and [they can] many things change.
“Very happy with my performance, thanks for the support, it’s great to play here on this field.”
Sinner was told he only had half a second each time to respond to Shelton’s big serve.
He said, “I’m not good at math, so thanks for telling me. I honestly don’t know. It’s just instinct and it’s not always about power.”
“I can handle the serves because they’re closer to my body, so it’s a little easier, but he’s also a southpaw and we don’t have a lot of lefties in our game, so returning his serve is definitely one of the more difficult challenges.
“Plus, the second serve has a lot of spin and the ball bounces here. It helps a little bit to play at night, but it’s still very, very difficult. I feel like I came back great today.”
Sinner had shown signs of fight while beating Luciano Darderi in the last 16.
But he said: “I was struggling, but we keep going day by day. I had that great win against a fellow countryman a few days ago, which gave a big boost to my confidence, and today I feel like I was moving a little bit better again. I feel physically stronger again.”
“I’m very happy to be in the semi-finals again here. The first tournament of the season and of course we all know the challenge I’m facing, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Jannik Sinner (L) hugs Ben Shelton (R) after their quarterfinal match
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Award-winning sports journalist Mike Donovan has been writing about tennis for almost 40 years, citing Andy Murray’s historic victory at Wimbledon in 2013, the first by a Briton in 77 years, as highlights, along with reporting on a Davis Cup match in Bucharest shortly after the assassination of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, plus electronically submitting reports on the 1990 US Open won by teenager Pete Sampras for the pioneering Today newspaper. He is also an author and has written several Tottenham Hotspur-related books, the latest being Danny Blanchflower: A Glorious Life: The Authorized 100th Anniversary Biography of a Global Football Icon, which will be published on Pitch in March. Blanchflower is a monumental figure in Spurs history and was voted World X1 Champion at the World Cup.
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