Melbourne, Jan 28: Jannik Sinner lined up a forehand, drilled it down the line and dropped to the court on his back, giving himself a few moments to process how he’d come back from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title.
The 22-year-old Sinner found a way to turn defence into attack in his first major final and take the Australian Open title from Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday.
It was his third straight win over a top 5 player, including his quarterfinal win over No. 5 Andrey Rublev and his semifinal upset that ended No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s long domination of the tournament. Only Djokovic and Roger Federer have done that in a major played on hard courts.
Sinner is the first Italian to win the Australian Open and the youngest winner in a men’s final here since Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in 2008.
With Carlos Alcaraz winning Wimbledon and Sinner winning the season-opening major, a generation shift is arriving.
“It’s been a hell of a journey,” the 22-year-old Sinner said, “even though I’m only 22.”
“It’s obviously a huge tournament for me. But I want to thank everyone for making this Slam so special.”
For 2021 US Open champion Medvedev, the loss was his fifth in six major finals. The third-seeded Medvedev set a record with his fourth five-set match of the tournament and time on court at a major in the Open era, his 24 hours and 17 minutes surpassing Carlos Alcaraz’s 23:40 at the 2022 US Open.
He’s also the first in the Open era to lose two Grand Slam finals in five sets after taking a 2-0 lead.
Medvedev lost back-to-back Australian Open finals – to Djokovic in 2021 and to Rafael Nadal after holding a two-set lead the following year.
He won three five-set matches to reach the championship match this year – his sixth Grand Slam final.
Sinner only dropped one set through six rounds – in a third-set tiebreaker against Djokovic – until he lost two straight to Medvedev.
It wasn’t until a break in the sixth game of the fifth set that he really had a full grip on his first Grand Slam title.
Medvedev started like a man who wanted to win quickly, after all that time spent on the court.
In two of Medvedev’s five-set matches – a second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori that finished at almost 4 in the morning, and a 4-hour, 18-minute semifinal win over No. 6 Alexander Zverev – he had to come back from two sets down. Nobody had done that on the way to an Australian Open final since Pete Sampras in 1995.
The 27-year-old Russian had spent 20 hours and 33 minutes on court through six rounds. That was almost six hours longer than Sinner took to reach the final.
Sinner didn’t give Djokovic a look at a breakpoint as he ended the 10-time Australian Open champion’s 33-match unbeaten streak at Melbourne Park dating to 2018.
Against Medvedev, though, he was in trouble early. Medvedev broke in the third game and took the first set in 36 minutes.
He had two more service breaks in the fourth and sixth games of the second set but was broken himself at 5-1 trying to serve it out. He was successful next try.
The third set went with serve until the 10th game, when Medvedev was a point from leveling at 5-5 until three forehand errors gave Sinner the set, and the momentum.
He won the fourth set, again with a service break in the 10th game, recovering immediately to win three points after mis-hitting a forehand so far out that it shocked the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
And so the tournament equaled a Grand Slam Open era record set at the 1983 US Open with a 35th match going to five sets.
In the sixth game of the fifth set, Sinner had triple breakpoint against a fatiguing Medvedev. He missed with his first chance but converted with his next, a forehand winner, for a 4-2 lead. From there, he didn’t give Medvedev another chance.
Medvedev won his first six matches against Sinner, but has now lost four in a row – including three finals. (AP)
