Sinner is into his first Grand Slam final after getting the better of 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.

Italian Jannik Sinner has ended Novak Djokovic’s 33-match winning run at the Australian Open.

Sinner, 22, defeated world No. 1 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 in three hours and 22 minutes. The defeat was the first suffered by the Serb since 2019 and the first men’s final without the big three of Djokovic, Rafal Nadal and Roger Federer.  

Uncharacteristically, Djokovic made 54 unforced errors compared to 28, made by Sinner, as he failed in his quest for an 11th Australian Open title since he started competing in Melbourne in 2005.

“Awesome,” remarked the Italian after his win on Rod Lavar’s centre court. “I don’t know what to say really. I came here after a couple of exhibition matches at Kooyong and came here as prepared as possible.

“The confidence from the end of last year has for sure kept the belief that I can play against the best players in the world, and I’m really happy that I can play Sunday final.

“It was a very, very tough match,” Sinner agreed after spending almost four hours on court. “I started off really well. He missed two sets. I felt like he wasn’t feeling that great on the court, so I just tried to keep pushing, and then in the third set I had a match point and I missed the forehand, but you know, this is tennis.

“I just tried to be ready for the next set, and obviously the atmosphere was so great.” As he prepares to face either Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.

Sinner said, “I lost last year in the semis at Wimbledon. I think I learnt a lot from that, and it’s all part of the process.”