In the men's singles semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament on the 24th local time, Italian king Sinner defeated the 21st seed Sheldon of the United States 7:6 (7:2), 6:2, 6:2, and was only one win away from the hegemony.
Italian champion Sinner
Sinner has won four of his last five meetings with Shelton and won four in a row, with his only Grand Slam meeting coming at Wimbledon last year, also in straight sets.
Despite the faltering start to the match, Sinner recovered at a crucial moment, saving two late set points when he was down 5-6 in the first set, successfully breaking Shelton's serve and winning 7-2 in the tie-break. Sinner also continued to force his opponent's mistakes in the second set, and relied on the first break to establish an advantage after breaking serve to win 6-2.
USA 21st seed Shelton
Sinner, who has been in two sets in hand, relied on his stable baseline pumping ability and ability to read the game, which made Sheldon play impatiently, made many unforced mistakes, staged a second break after a 2:2 draw, and also swept the four games in one go, winning 6:2 and advancing to the final.
The in-form Sinner is on a 20-match winning streak across the season and will face Germany's second seed Zverev on Sunday, who advanced to the tournament after winning the first set 7-6 (7-5) in the last four before Djokovic withdrew.