Sinner saunters past Shelton to third straight AO semifinal

Jannik Sinner is into his third successive Australian Open semifinal after beating American Ben Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday night to extend his Melbourne Park win streak to 19 matches.

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The Italian two-time defending champion made it nine victories in a row – and 22 sets in succession – against the explosive lefty to set up a Friday semifinal against Novak Djokovic, who advanced after Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire with injury earlier on Wednesday after the Italian had won the opening two sets.

Shelton’s serve wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped, Sinner returned brilliantly during the opening two sets and when the pair found themselves engaged in baseline points, more often than not it was the Italian who was winning them.

It was an evening that wasn’t without its intrigue, however. Despite the one-sided scoreline, from the very end of the second set the four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner looked a little shaky physically.

The 24-year-old appeared lacking in energy for a brief period, and his tennis suffered a slight drop in quality and intensity before he broke late in the third to seal another straight-sets success.

More to come

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