Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner is one win away from a sixth straight grand slam final after seeing off American Ben Shelton on Wednesday night.
The Italian controlled the first two sets with early breaks before striking late in the third then serving out a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory in two hours and 23 minutes inside Rod Laver Arena.
But concerns about his fitness levels remain, four days on from suffering full-body cramping in his third-round win, ahead of a semi-final against rested veteran Novak Djokovic.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow
Jim Courier argued Sinner “doesn’t look quite normal yet” as early as the third game on Wednesday night.
“He’s watching the serve clock and buying extra time before he serves, which is not something you often see him do, certainly early in a match when it hasn’t gotten physical,” the former world No.1 said in commentary on Nine.
At the same stage of the second set Courier suggested Sinner had never fully recovered from last weekend’s issues in the heat.
“Everything within the rally physically looks normal for him, but in between the rallies, he’s taken a lot of extra time looking up at the serve clock and working it down to zero,” he said.
“And we know he had the really brutal match where he was entering into a full-body cramp in the 40-degree temperatures.
“But that’s a while ago. You would have thought that he would have recovered better and maybe he is, but him taking all this extra time is a little bit out of character for him.”
The very next point was a quick one yet Sinner was immediately reaching for the towel to avoid serving straight away.
“He was able to find a way to be able to close that second set out there. He did look a little distressed at times in that last service game,” Lleyton Hewitt said at the start of the third set.
However Sinner might be feeling, it’s not opening the door for his competition.
The 24-year-old struck 33 winners to just 16 unforced errors and saved all four of Shelton’s break points.
Sinner admitted in his on-court interview he is still working through his recovery.
“I was struggling. We go day by day,” he told Courier.
“I had a great win a couple of days ago against fellow Italian (Luciano Darderi), which is a good confidence boost.
“Today I felt like I was moving a little bit linger, stronger physically and I’m very happy. Semis again and I’m very happy to be there again. We all know what challenge I’m up to but I’m looking forward to it.”
While it has long been expected Sinner will meet world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in the decider, for a fourth straight time in grand slam tennis, Djokovic looms large.
The Serbian received a walkover in the fourth round and only played two and a half sets on Wednesday before Lorenzo Musetti retired from their quarter-final.
But Djokovic, who did not play a lead-up tournament, trailed two sets to love at the time and is dealing with a large blister on the bottom of his right foot.
Sinner and Djokovic first met at a grand slam in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2022, with the veteran claiming a five-set victory over the then world No.13 rising star.
They have since met in four major semi-finals — Wimbledon 2023 (Djokovic in four sets), Australian Open 2024 (Sinner in four sets), French Open 2025 (Sinner in three sets) and Wimbledon 2025 (Sinner in three sets).
“These are moments why you practise for. You wake up in the morning and you just look forward to play hopefully a good match,” Sinner said.
“If you want to win you have to play at the best. I’m looking forward to it, but also in the past I’ve had great lessons. It doesn’t really matter, the result, it improves you as a player and a person.
“We are so lucky to have Novak here playing incredible tennis with his age. We play for you guys (fans) but we also play for us, hopefully it’s going to be a great battle out here but it’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Read more Aus Open news
‘Heartbreaking scenes’ as title contender suddenly quits Australian Open
2 min read
Aus Open ‘scandal’ explodes with fresh ‘strip search’ threat
3 min read
