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22 January 2025, 09:52 GMT
Australian Open 2025
Dates: 12-26 January Venue: Melbourne Park
Coverage: Live radio commentary on Tennis Breakfast from 07:00 GMT on BBC 5 Sports Extra, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app
Defending champion Jannik Sinner dismissed concerns about his physical state to thrash home hope Alex de Minaur and reach the Australian Open semi-finals.
Sinner struggled with illness in his previous match but looked sharp in a 6-3 6-2 6-1 victory over eighth seed De Minaur.
Two days after being sick before playing Denmark’s Holger Rune and needing to see a doctor, Sinner said he felt “ready” when he woke up on Wednesday.
Sinner denied speculation he had pneumonia, saying blood tests after his fourth-round match were “all good”.
“I feel like the illness has gone away now. I was feeling much, much better this morning,” the world number one said.
“When you are young you recover very fast – so it’s a bit different.”
The 23-year-old Italian will face American Ben Shelton in the last four on Friday.
Shelton, 22, reached the Melbourne semi-finals for the first time with a battling 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-4) against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Stunning Sinner silences Melbourne crowd
Anticipation was high among the Australian fans arriving at Rod Laver Arena that De Minaur could cause a shock – particularly given the uncertainty about Sinner’s condition.
A pale-looking Sinner was visibly shaking in his chair during his fourth-round win over Rune and benefitted from an enforced 20-minute break when the net broke.
But Sinner looked healthy in a performance where he proved again to be a class above De Minaur.
The world number one struck the ball sweetly and consistently to outlast De Minaur in the rallies.
Clinching six breaks of serves, and saving just the one chance for De Minaur in the second set, illustrated his dominance.
Afterwards Sinner said he had “a very easy day” on Tuesday, hitting with his coaches for only “half an hour or 40 minutes” to maintain rhythm.
“I felt ready for today,” Sinner added.
“When you play a night session you try to sleep as long as you can and eat healthy.”
De Minaur came into the match with a terrible record against his opponent, losing all nine of their previous meetings and winning just one set in the process.
The 25-year-old Australian was looking to end that unwanted run and become the first home player since 2005 to reach the men’s singles semi-finals.
But what was expected to be a raucous atmosphere failed to materialise on a cool Melbourne night.
It was testament to Sinner’s assured display that he largely silenced the majority of the 15,000 fans.
“Right now my worst match-up on tour is Jannik. The head to head doesn’t lie,” said De Minaur.
“In these types of conditions where it’s a little bit colder and you can’t really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It’s tough.”
Shelton reaches first Melbourne semi-final
Shelton eased into a two-seat lead on Rod Laver Arena but dropped his level enough to allow the unseeded Sonego to force a fourth set.
The two were well-matched in the set, with both playing some entertaining points before Shelton’s strong serving helped him pull away in the resulting tie-break.
Shelton, who clocked a tournament joint-fastest 144mph serve during the match, said he was “relieved” to get through.
“Shout-out to Lorenzo because that was some ridiculous tennis,” 21st seed Shelton added after a quarter-final lasting three hours and 50 minutes.
Both players have benefited from a quarter of the draw which has been left wide open following the early exits of top-10 seeds Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.
Friday’s semi-final will be Shelton’s second in singles at a Grand Slam, having lost in the last four of the 2023 US Open to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
