Jannik Sinner into Australian Open semis over Alex de Minaur

Jannik Sinner stormed into a second straight Australian Open semifinal, the defending champ making quick work of home favorite Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

The world No. 1 recovered well from the physical challenges that threatened to hamper his progress in the fourth round, needing just one hour and 48 minutes to dismiss the No. 8 seed on Rod Laver Arena, leaving Jim Courier to keep Sinner on court for an extended post-match interview.

“With talking, I’m not the best entertainer, so that’s a bit boring when I respond,” joked the 23-year-old, who improved to 10-0 against De Minaur on Wednesday night.

“I feel like today I was feeling everything. On days like this, when you break quite early in each set, it’s a little bit easier. He’s a very tough competitor, an amazing player.

“I know so many guys came for him tonight,” he added, saluting the Australian crowd, “but thank you so much for being so fair; it was an amazing atmosphere.”

Sinner last dropped a set to De Minaur all the way back in 2020 in their first full-length ATP match; since then the Italian has had the edge over the 25-year-old Aussie despite the latter’s admirable improvements over the last 12 months.

“We know each other quite well now,” said Sinner. “We played last year so many times. We tried to understand each other’s game, to prepare ourselves in the best possible way. These kinds of matches can go quickly but they can also change very fast if I go down with the level a little bit. He can take that opportunity, so I’m very happy with my performance today.”

De Minaur completed a box set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances with this result, having reached the last eight of the other three major tournaments in 2024, but appears to have hit a ceiling for the moment with the likes of Sinner guarding the door into the semifinals.

Sinner, who was struggling physically against Holger Rune in the fourth round, credited plenty of sleep and a light between matches with helping him bounce back for De Minaur, against whom he struck 27 winners to just 19 unforced errors, and converted an impressive six of 10 break points.

I feel like, especially when you are young, you recover very fast. I really like to sleep, so I tried to rest in the best possible way, not doing so many things at the moment, just trying to relax, recover and be ready for the court. Jannik Sinner

“I feel like, especially when you are young, you recover very fast,” he said, lightly roasting Courier and his team during the on-court interview. “I really like to sleep, so I tried to rest in the best possible way, not doing so many things at the moment, just trying to relax, recover and be ready for the court.

“I have a very experienced team with me, which I’m very grateful and happy that they understand every moment even better than I can because I do play tennis for a long time, but not so much [as them]. I still have things to improve, taking some experiences, so I’m happy to have this team.”

Sinner, who watched the blockbuster quarterfinal between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, was reluctant to make predctions on who will win Friday’s first semifinal between Djokovic and No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, but was more amenable to previewing the second between himself and American Ben Shelton.

“I feel like a journalist when you ask me like this; it’s very difficult,” said Sinner, who has won his last four meetings with Shelton to compile a 4-1 head-to-head with the No. 21 seed.

“We played last year and had some tough matches. He is one of the best servers on tour, lefty, and rotation of the ball is coming. Hopefully, I’m ready and can return as many serves as possible and then trying to stay very concentrated about my game like today and trying to stay aggressive.”

Sinner left the lengthy interview to cheers from the Laver crowd, and will hope for a similar reception in a more neutral match against Shelton, one that will determine whether the two-time Grand Slam champion can extend his win streak at hard-court Slams to 20 in a row after victories here and at last summer’s US Open.