World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Friday became the youngest man to reach back-to-back Australian Open finals since Jim Courier in 1992.
The 23-year-old Italian extended his hard-court major streak to 20 wins with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 rout of American Ben Shelton in the semifinal. He also became the youngest to go 20-0 at hard court majors since John McEnroe in 1981.
Sinner hasn’t lost a match at a hard-court major since his fourth-round loss to Alexander Zverev at the 2023 U.S. Open. He would follow that loss with his first two major titles, the 2024 Australian Open and U.S. Open.
Incidentally, Sinner will face Zverev in the Australian Open final this Sunday, with the opportunity to extend his unreal run at grand slams. Looking ahead to the match, Sinner knows a tough test awaits him. Zverev holds a 4-2 head-to-head record against Sinner, even though the latter won their last encounter at the 2024 Cincinnati 1000 Masters.
“We had some very tough matches in the past,” Sinner said of Zverev, via AusOpen.com. “Everything can happen. He’s an incredible player, looking for his first major. There’s going to be again a lot of tension but I’m happy to [put] myself in this position.”
With a 100% win record in major finals, Sinner enters Sunday’s match as the overwhelming favorite despite his four previous losses to Zverev. The Italian is trying to become the first since Rafael Nadal (2005-06) to successfully defend a maiden major title.
Sinner hasn’t lost a match since losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Beijing Open last October.
