Sinner dismisses health fears to reach semis

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, the top seed said he felt "ready" when he woke up on Wednesday.

"I feel like when you are young you recover very fast - so it's a bit different," said top seed Sinner.

"I tried to rest in the best possible way, not doing too many things and trying to be ready for the match."

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 win over Lorenzo Sonego in just under four hours.

The big-serving American won 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-4) against the unseeded Italian earlier on Wednesday.

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.

De Minaur came into the match with a terrible record against his opponent, losing all nine of their previous matches and winning only one set in the process.

The 25-year-old was looking to end that unwanted statistic 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 in the night-session match failed to materialise.

It was testament to Sinner's assured display that he quickly quietened De Minaur and largely silenced the majority of the 15,000 fans.

Sinner struck the ball sweetly and consistently to outlast De Minaur in the rallies.

"I feel like today I was feeling everything. When you break early in each set it is a little bit easier," added Sinner.

"Yesterday was a very easy day, I played just half an hour or 40 minutes with my coaches, they gave me rhythm.

"I felt ready for today, when you play night session you try to sleep as long as you can and eat healthy."

Shelton eased into a two-seat lead on Rod Laver Arena but dropped his level enough to allow 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," 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.