Jannik Sinner beat Ben Shelton in straight sets to seal his progression to the Australian Open final. (More Sports News)
Sinner will now have the chance to defend his title on Sജunday when he takes on Alexande🐼r Zverev, who was the benefactor of Novak Djokovic's retirement due to injury.
Shelton pushed Sinner all the way in the opening set, but the world number one showed his quality to prevail in the tiebreak before going on to win 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-2 in a little over two-and-a-ওhalf hours.
Sinner knew he was in a match from the off, as Shelton immediately broke serve, but the top seed got a ༒brea♑k back to square matters up at 2-2.
Shelton broke again, though, and Sinner 🍸had to claw back two set points to force the tiebreak.
But from there, he took control, and carried the momentum into a second set that he wrapped up inꦬ just 43 minutes, as the pressure seemed to get to Shelton.
The American could not recover in the third, as Sinne🐭r broke him twi♈ce before a stray return into the net ended Shelton's dream run and sent the Italian into his second straight Grand Slam final.
Data Debrief: Sensational Sinner sparkles again
Sinner has now won his last 20 matches, setting his longest career winning streak, surpassing the 19 wins in a row he man🦄aged between the Davis Cup 2023 and Indian Wells 2024.
The 23-yeꦏar-old is also the second-youngest player in the Open Era to win 20 consecutive hard court men's singles grand slam matches - older 🅷only than John McEnroe in 1981.
Sinner i✱s the youngest man to reach back-to-back singles finals at the Australian Open since Pete Sampras (1994-1995).
His meeting with Zverev will be the first final between the ATP's ❀top two at the Australian Open sincꦰe 2019, when Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
