World number one Jannik Sinner brushed aside concerns about his health with a commanding straight-sets victory over home favourite Alex De Minaur in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The defending champion showed no lingering effects from his previous round’s medical issues, dispatching the Australian 6-3 6-2 6-1 in just one hour and 48 minutes.
The 23-year-old Italian’s performance marked a remarkable turnaround from his troubled match against Holger Rune two days earlier.
In his previous match, Sinner had required a lengthy medical timeout against Rune, appearing visibly shaken and admitting to feeling unwell.
Jannik Sinner suffered a health scare in his last match against Holger Rune
Reuters
The Italian explained his quick recovery: “(Tuesday) was a very easy day, I played just half an hour, 40 minutes.
“I feel like the illness has gone away now. I was feeling much, much better this morning,
“I feel like, especially when you’re young, you recover very fast.”
“I have a very experienced team with me, which I’m very grateful and happy (for),” he added, noting he knew immediately he was ready for the quarter-final.
For De Minaur, it was a familiar outcome against his Italian rival, having lost all nine previous encounters and winning just one set in their head-to-head meetings.
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Despite being the biggest match of De Minaur’s career in his first Australian Open quarter-final appearance, the home favourite could find no way to hurt Sinner’s game.
The Melbourne crowd arrived full of hope and tried to lift their man, but Sinner, who has now won all 16 matches against players at their home grand slams, remained ruthless throughout.
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Jannik Sinner was in flying form against Alex De Minaur
Reuters
Sinner’s dominance was evident across all aspects of the match, with his weight of shot proving too much for De Minaur to handle.
“I feel like today I was feeling everything,” Sinner said after the match. “When you have days like this and you break early in each set, it makes it a bit easier.”
The Italian remained focused throughout, acknowledging that such matches “can change very fast if I go down with the level a little bit.”
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Sinner will now face American Ben Shelton in Friday’s semi-final showdown.
Shelton, 22, secured his spot in the last four with a hard-fought 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6 (4) victory over unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego in just under four hours.
The 21st-seeded American, who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2023, benefited from a quarter of the draw that opened up following early exits of several top-10 seeds.
“I feel relieved right now,” Shelton said after his win. “Shout out to Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis.”