By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Defending champion Jannik Sinner scorched American eighth seed Ben Shelton 6-3 6-4 6-4 and moved into the Australian Open semi-finals, setting up a blockbuster showdown with 10-times winner Novak Djokovic.
The second seed, who is firmly on course for his third title at Melbourne Park in as many years, tightened his vice-like grip on the rivalry with Shelton by sealing his ninth straight win, all of which have been without conceding a set.
Despite a comfortable win to reach his ninth Grand Slam semi-final and sixth in a row, Sinner faced moments where he was tested by Shelton’s thunderous serves, including one that nearly crashed into his body leaving him little time to react.
“It’s very tough to play against Ben, he’s got a huge serve and he’s improving year after year,” said Sinner.
“After the off-season, you never know how certain players are going to play against you.
“It’s not always, the power that matters. The serves I can handle are a little bit closer to my body. It’s slightly easier, but it’s a completely different serve, he’s a lefty, we don’t have many lefties in our game.
“It’s definitely one of the toughest challenges to return his serve.”
Sinner looked to be on his way when he pulled off a stunning winner by gently caressing the ball around the net post en route to breaking in the fourth game, before claiming the opening set with little trouble.
Shelton went up a gear and earned a breakpoint at 1-2 down in the second set, but Sinner snuffed out the challenge to surge into another commanding lead despite looking off-colour at times and he closed out the frame when the American sent a shot long.
Sinner suffered cramps in the third round on a blazing day before seeing off American Eliot Spizzirri and then defeated Luciano Darderi in the last round, but said he was moving a lot better on Wednesday.
“I feel stronger physically again,” he added.
“I’m happy… to be in the semi-finals again. We all know what challenge I’m up against and I’m looking forward to it.”
A couple of breakpoints came and went in the fifth game of the third set but Sinner benefited from a Shelton double fault to go 5-4 up and wrapped up the win on serve to ensure his meeting with 24-times major champion Djokovic.
“These are the moments you practice for, you wake up in the morning and you look forward to play, hopefully a good match,” Sinner added.
“You have to play at your best. I’m looking forward to it. But also in the past, I’ve had great lessons. It doesn’t really matter if you win, it improves you as a player and as a person.
“We’re still lucky to have Novak playing incredible tennis at his age. We play for you guys (fans) but we also play for us. Hopefully, it’s going to be a great, great battle out here.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in MelbourneEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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