MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Jannik Sinner prepared a forehand, drilled it down the line and dropped to the court on her back, giving herself a few moments to figure out how to come back from down two sets. By doing this he managed to achieve his first victory. Grand Slam title.
Sinner, 22, found a way to convert defense into attack and gain possession in his first major final Australian Open On Sunday, Daniil Medvedev won the title 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
“I like dancing in a storm of pressure,” he said of his calm approach in the most stressful moments. “I like it, because that’s where I get my best tennis out of, most of the time.”
This was his third consecutive win over a top 5 player after his quarterfinal win over Andrey Rublev and The upset in the semi-finals ended No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic’s long-standing dominance Of the tournament. Before this, only Djokovic and Roger Federer have done this in a major match played on hard court.
So he’s in very good company.
Sinner He is the first Italian to win the Australian Open and the youngest winner of a men’s final here since Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in 2008.
With Carlos Alcaraz winning Wimbledon last year and Sinner winning the season-opening major, a generational change is coming.
“I still have to work on it, because … beating Novak in the semis and then Daniel today in the finals, he’s a tough guy to beat,” Sinner said. “This is a great moment for me and my team. But in another way, we also know that we have to improve if we want another chance to lift a major trophy again.
Sinner’s success has created a sensation in tennis in ItalyWhere his race and leading role in the ATP Finals Championship match Davis Cup title The victory in November captured the nation’s attention. The night final in Australia was made for pre-lunch viewing in Italy.
The loss was his fifth in six major finals for 2021 US Open champion Medvedev. third seeded Medvedev sets a record with his fourth five-set match His time of 24 hours and 17 minutes on court at a major tournament of the Open era surpassed Carlos Alcaraz’s 23:40 at the 2022 US Open.
He is the first player in the Open era to lose two Grand Slam finals in five sets after taking a 2–0 lead.
Medvedev lost consecutive Australian Open finals – to Djokovic in 2021 and to Rafael Nadal the following year after blowing a two-set lead.
Sinner lost only one set in six rounds – in a third-set tiebreaker against 10-time Australian Open champion Djokovic – until he lost two consecutive sets to Medvedev.
It was not until a break in the sixth game of the fifth set that she really had a stranglehold on her first Grand Slam title.
In two of Medvedev’s five-set matches – a second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori Finished around 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. No one had done this in the Australian Open final since Pete Sampras in 1995.
Against Sinner, he started off like someone who wanted to win points quickly.
Standing closer to the baseline to receive serve and going to the net more regularly than usual, he broke in the third game and won the first set in 36 minutes.
He got two more service breaks in the fourth and sixth games of the second set, but while trying to serve, he got broken at 5-1. He was successful in the next attempt.
The third set went on with serve until the 10th game, when Medvedev was level at 5–5 before three forehand errors gave Sinner the set and momentum.
He won the fourth set, then won three points with a service break in the 10th game, quickly recovering after mishitting a forehand so far that it shocked the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
And thus the tournament equaled the Grand Slam Open era record set at the 1983 US Open, with the 35th match going to five sets.
In the sixth game of the fifth set, Sinner had a triple break point against a tired Medvedev. He missed his first chance but converted his next forehand winner to take a 4-2 lead. From there he did not give Medvedev another chance.
Medvedev had faced either Djokovic or Rafael Nadal in all five of his previous major finals. He defeated Djokovic to win the 2021 US Open title but everyone else lost.
The 27-year-old Russian has been saying throughout the tournament that he has more stamina than before, and is mentally stronger in tough five-setters. He certainly showed incredible stamina, but again fell short.
Medvedev won the first six meetings of his career with Sinner, but has now lost four in a row – including three in the finals.
“I want to congratulate Janik… You showed again why you deserve it,” Medvedev said. “Maybe this isn’t your last Grand Slam, but I hope if you play in the finals I can try to get the next Grand Slam.”
Medvedev also sent a message to his family and supporters.
He said, “Unfortunately I couldn’t make it today, but next time I’ll try to make it work for you.” “It’s always sad to lose in the final, but maybe being in the final is better than losing in the first.”
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