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Sinner praises Demon after dominant win | 01:24
Alex de Minaur’s dream of a grand slam semi-final debut at home is over, after he was smashed by world No.1 Jannik Sinner in their Australian Open quarter-final.
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De Minaur, who is now 0-10 for his career against the Italian, has made great strides in his career including four consecutive slam runs to the last eight – with a breakthrough this year at Melbourne Park.
But it meant nothing against the defending champion, who came in under an illness cloud and walked off court the clear tournament favourite after winning 6-3 6-2 6-1.
Sinner will face young American 21st seed Ben Shelton in the semi-finals, with either Novak Djokovic or Alex Zverev awaiting in Sunday night’s final.
“I feel like today I was feeling everything … he’s a very tough competitor (and) an amazing player,” Sinner said.
De Minaur didn’t play terribly, but was just overmatched from the start with any chance of the partisan Rod Laver Arena crowd willing him to victory quickly dashed by Sinner.
“He has wielded his racquet like a mute button tonight,” Jim Courier said on Nine.
John McEnroe declared Sinner was playing like “a man possessed”.
The top seed was clearly sick in his fourth round victory against Holger Rune with the Italian visibly shaking at times during changes of ends. Had it not been for a lengthy mid-match interruption due to a broken net, Sinner might not have had enough time to recover and win the match.
Today Sinner cancelled a planned outdoor practice session, instead moving indoors away from prying eyes.
Then just an hour before the quarter-final was scheduled begin Nine’s Tony Jones reported on-air that he had received a text saying Sinner’s manager “is looking for (tournament boss) Craig Tiley” – the suggestion being only a serious matter, like a withdrawal, could prompt that discussion.
But after a delayed start due to a lengthy day session, Sinner made it out on court and at no point appeared hindered.
“Yesterday was a very easy day, I played just 30-40 minutes with my coaches … I feel like when you are young, you recover very fast – it’s a bit different,” he explained.
He was striking the ball well – unlike his early-tournament match with unseeded Aussie Tristan Schoolkate, when he dropped a set – on route to an early 3-1 lead. De Minaur got out to 0-30 trying to break back in the next game but dropped four straight points.
“He is not looking too ill to me … the guy is like a metronome out there,” John McEnroe said on Nine.
An unlikely lob winner had de Minaur in with a sniff of a break-back in the final game of the opening set, but Sinner held his nerve and serve to take it 6-3.
De Minaur was then broken to open the second set, and could not take advantage of his own break point in the ensuing game.
“Alex is playing at an excellent level here, he’s just not seeing any dip from Jannik’s expected level,” Jim Courier said on Nine.
The match threatened to spiral out of control as de Minaur saved multiple break points at 3-1, but eventually went down the double break on route to dropping the set 6-2.
“Helpless feeling so far,” John McEnroe said.
With no answers, de Minaur quickly fell down a double break in the third set as well.
De Minaur, the eighth seed, was looking to become the first Australian man since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 to reach the final four of their home grand slam.
The rivalry with Sinner now matches Novak Djokovic’s dominance over Taylor Fritz (10-0) as the most one-sided in the ATP top 10.
Sinner is the only member of the top 15 the Aussie has never beaten, dropping just one of 24 sets, a tiebreak in their November 2020 meeting at Sofia.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT 11 ORDER OF PLAY (All times AEDT)
Men’s and Women’s Singles Quarter-Finals
Rod Laver Arena
Night session from 7:30pm
No.1 Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs No.8 Alex de Minaur (AUS)
