MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 28: Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a forehand in the Men’s Singles Quarterfinal against Ben Shelton of the United States during day 11 of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 28, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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Two-time Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner is now two wins from a three-peat.
No. 2 Sinner dominated No. 8 Ben Shelton, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to a semifinal showdown on Friday night with No. 4 Novak Djokovic, who remains alive for a record 25th Grand Slam crown.
Sinner will take a 19-match winning streak in Melbourne into the semifinals. He is 97-6 on hardcourts since the start of 2024.
“These are moments you practice for, you wake up in the morning and you just look forward to play hopefully a good match…” Sinner said on court of playing Djokovic next.
“We are still lucky to have Novak here playing incredible tennis with his age…Hopefully it’s going to be a great battle out here and then we see. But it’s going to be of course very, very difficult.”
Sinner, who hit 33 winners against 16 unforced errors, holds a five match win streak on Djokovic, who advanced via walkover over Lorenzo Musetti after trailing two sets to love.
“I’m not liking [Djokovic’s] chances a whole lot,” John McEnroe said on ESPN.
No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will face No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the first semifinal on Friday afternoon. The top four seeds are into a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since 2019 Roland Garros.
“The guys in the other semifinal have their work cut out for them because [Sinner] is playing unreal ball right now,” Chris Eubanks said on ESPN.
Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last eight Grand Slam titles.
The tournament winner earns approximately $2.79 million, and the runner-up $1.45 million.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 28: Jannik Sinner (L) of Italy embraces Ben Shelton (R) of the United States after his victory in the Men’s Singles Quarterfinal againstduring day 11 of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 28, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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The Sinner-Shelton match was a rematch of last year’s semifinals, also won by Sinner in straight sets.
Serving at 4-all in the third set, Shelton fell behind 0-40 and saved one break point before double-faulting at 15-40.
Sinner closed it out with a forehand winner on match point.
“First of all it’s very very tough to play Ben,” Sinner said on court. “Huge huge serve. I feel like he’s improving so much year after year. Especially after the off season you never know how certain players are gonna play against you.. changing a lot of things. Very happy about today’s performance. As always thanks for the support. It’s amazing to play here on this court. Now let’s see what’s coming.”
Sinner improved to 18-0 against Americans in Grand Slams.
With Shelton’s exit, no American men are left in the draw. No American man has won a major since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open