Sinner a grinner, Djokovic knocked out
Jannik Sinner has shattered Novak Djokovic’s aura of invincibility to storm into his maiden Grand Slam final with a seismic Australian Open victory over the Serb.
Fans have been wondering for years when the next generation would finally arrive and Sinner answered the question emphatically yesterday with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 dispatch of Djokovic.
The king of Melbourne Park had entered the much-anticipated match with a perfect 10-from-10 record in Australian Open semifinals.
Djokovic ended it probably wondering where it all went so horribly wrong on a court he’d made his own for a decade-and-a-half.
The 36-year-old had won his past 33 matches at Rod Laver Arena, and despite losing to Sinner twice in a week in November, was still favoured to advance to yet another Open final and record-extending 37th Grand Slam title decider. Instead, the world No 1 remains level with Margaret Court with a record-equalling 24 Grand Slam singles crowns.
On the evidence of not only the past fortnight in Melbourne — where the 22-year-old has yet to drop a set — but the past four months, Sinner is very much the man to beat.
Thriving under Australian supercoach Darren Cahill, who guided Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep to world No 1, Sinner has swept all before him since a fourth-round loss to Alexander Zverev at the US Open in September.
He has collected titles in Beijing — where he conquered Medvedev and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz — and Vienna, made the seasonending championship final in Turin and piloted Italy to a droughtbreaking Davis Cup triumph.
Sinner’s victories over Djokovic at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup had placed the tennis world on notice but few could have imagined the manner of yesterday’s victory.
He broke the 10-time champion in the second game of the match, then again in the sixth to race through the opening set in 35 minutes. It was the first set Djokovic had lost 6-1 at the Open in a decade.
As the great Serb made error after error, Sinner cracked winners seemingly at will. There was no let-up in the second as the Italian claimed two more double breaks to leave Djokovic looking shell-shocked.
Djokovic had recovered from two sets down against Sinner in the Wimbledon quarter-finals two years ago and staged another fightback yesterday. But even after saving a match point in the tense third-set tiebreaker, there was no escaping this time.
Sinner broke Djokovic for a fifth time in the fourth game of the fourth set, then held his nerve and serve three more times to snuff out any comeback and seal victory after three hours and 22 minutes with a huge forehand winner.