By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Defending champion Jannik Sinner will look to seal back-to-back Australian Open titles and deny second seed Alexander Zverev a maiden Grand Slam crown in the men’s final on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, the women’s doubles final sees top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
SINNER LOOKING TO JOIN DJOKOVIC AND FEDERER AMONG SUCCESSFUL DEFENDERS
A year after overhauling Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the 2024 final, Jannik Sinner will be favourite to win Sunday’s decider and become the first man to retain the title since Novak Djokovic’s “three-peat” from 2019-21.
Top seed Sinner would become the 11th man to go back-to-back in the professional era, joining the likes of Roger Federer (2006-07, 2017-18) and Andre Agassi (2000-01).
Having won the U.S. Open last year, Sinner could also become the first Italian to win three Grand Slam titles, moving past his tie with Nicola Pietrangeli, a back-to-back winner of the men’s singles at Roland Garros (1959-60).
Sinner arrives in the final in top form, having won his last 20 matches.
He thrashed Australian number one Alex De Minaur in the quarter-finals and also beat rising American talent Ben Shelton in straight sets in the semis.
Physically, though, it has not all been smooth sailing for the 23-year-old, who suffered cramp against Shelton and had dizzy spells on a hot day during his four-set win over Holger Rune in the fourth round.
With a maximum 27 degrees Celsius (80 F) forecast on Sunday, Sinner may be relieved that the match is scheduled in the evening cool.
His run to the final has come while a long-standing doping case stemming from failed drug tests last March hangs over his head.
Though cleared to play by tennis’s integrity authority, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is seeking a ban of up to two years for the Italian at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The hearing is set for April.
Sinner has so far proved impervious to external distractions, though, and the extra weight of being defending champion.
“I’m trying to take the things away in my head, the pressure,” he said. “Even if it’s easy to say, but difficult to do.
“I will try to do that and also enjoy these moments. We won six very, very tough matches.”
ZVEREV CHASING LONG-AWAITED GRAND SLAM BREAKTHROUGH
As a teenage up-and-comer, Zverev once generated the same level of excitement that Sinner enjoyed before his maiden Grand Slam title win at Melbourne Park in 2024.
However, predictions of major trophies have not come to pass for the 27-year-old German despite a couple of near-misses.
He was overhauled by Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final last year when he was two sets-to-one ahead and also surrendered a two-set lead to fall to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 U.S. Open decider.
Despite wielding a huge serve, one of the game’s most potent backhands and decent court movement for a 6 ft-6 in (1.98m) man, Zverev is vulnerable to wilting under pressure and has struggled to shrug off perceptions of mental fragility.
Once shut down at the Grand Slams by Djokovic, Federer and Rafa Nadal, the younger generation led by Sinner and Alcaraz has more recently emerged to thwart Zverev’s ambitions.
Chastened by his French Open final loss to Alcaraz last year where he tired late in the match, Zverev re-hired trainer Jez Green to build staying power for five-set matches.
He comes into Sunday’s final relatively fresh after Djokovic retired injured after one set of their semi-final.
Zverev also holds a 4-2 winning record over Sinner which includes hardcourt victories at the 2021 and 2023 U.S. Open tournaments.
But Sinner won their last match on hardcourt at Cincinnati last year when he was virtually untouchable.
With Sinner almost unmatched for the potency and accuracy of his shot-making, Zverev’s best chance of victory may be in dragging the Italian into a long dogfight and putting his serve to work in tiebreaks.
“Again, my goal is still to compete with the big guys and to compete for these kinds of tournaments and try to win them,” said Zverev.
“I’m looking forward to Sunday. I do feel like I have done the work, and I do feel like I’m ready for it.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON SUNDAY
Here is the order of play on the main showcourts on the 15th day of the Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding):
ROD LAVER ARENA
Night session (0830 GMT/1930 AEDT)
1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) v 2-Alexander Zverev (Germany)
1-Katerina Siniakova (Czech)/Taylor Townsend (US) v 3-Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan)/Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Comments