Righto, that’s it from me; check back for our report from Sinner v De Minaur, which will be here and on-site shortly. Otherwise, I’ll be back tomorrow at 8am GMT to bring you the women’s semis, both of which are potential classics. But until then, thanks for your company and go in peace.
As for Sinner v Shelton, if the American serves like God, he’s a chance. I’d expect he’d need breakers to make it happen because it’s more likely he can blaze a key winner than string together a few on three separate occasions. He’ll also need to hit hard, because if he can shove Sinner behind the baseline, he’ll take away some of the ability to hit winners. Most likely, though, the champ wins in three or four.
As for the men’s, Zverev v Djokovic could be a classic – if, course, Djokovic is fit. Assuming he is, and his battle with Alcaraz didn’t take too much out of him, his serving and returning, plus his ability to keep Zverev off balance, make me lean towards him. Zverev, though, is playing well, his serve and backhand among the foremost weapons in the game, I just don’t think he can hit through the greatest of all time.
Naturally, Sabalenka and Swiatek will be favourites, but both are facing opponents who can do plenty to trouble them.
Sabalenka struggled with Pavlyuchenkova, who hit beautifully, refusing to step behind the baseline, and Badosa is more than capable of doing the same. She’s long been a talent, and if she’s finally have twigged how to control her power, she can beat anyone.
Similarly, Keys has a new racket and strings that are helping her use her physical gifts without overdoing things, and if she’s able to stay relaxed, might just be able to hit through Swiatek.
I can’t wait to see how these go.
So, then, what of tomorrow? Well, we’ve got two potential bangers:
Aryna Sabalenka (1) v Paula Badosa (11)
Madison Keys (19) v Iga Swiatek (2)
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That, then, is day 11 in the books. Madison Keys beat Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek wiped Emma Navarro while, in the men’s side, Ben Shelton did for Lorezo Sonego and Jannik Sinner obliterated Alex de Minaur.
Sinner says he was “feeling everything” today, when you break quite early in each set it’s easier, and De Minaur is a very good player. They know each other quite well and try to understand each other’s game, preparing in the best possible way, but if you drop things can change very quickly, so he’s very happy with his performance today.
He took things easy yesterday after feeling ill on Monday, but when you’re young you recover fast – there’s laughter, as he’s chatting to Jim Courier – and thanks his team.
He told them first thing today that he was ready, ate well and a had a good warm-up hit. It was quite windy so they went indoors to feel the ball in the best possible way, and the result was good.
Last evening, he watched Djokovic v Alcaraz all the way to the end as he knew he could sleep long thereafter. He says theirs is the best rivalry in tennis and it was a great match with great rallies.
Otherwise, he won’t predict Djokovic v Zverev, so Courier tells him he’s being told to keep things going because things finished so early. “I’m not the best entertainer,” he laughs, the says Shelton is a good player and his lefty serve means different rotations on the ball. But he’ll try and return as many serves as possible, stay concentrated and stay aggressive.
Demon departs, and he can be proud of himself: he’s working as hard as he can to be as good as he can, and that’s very very hard and very very good – as far as his athletic gifts can take him. I’m afraid he may be destined to “just” be the eighth-best player in the world; a pretty decent state of affairs, even for a manically driven sportsman.
Jannik Sinner (1) beats Alex de Minaur (8) 6-3 6-2 6-1
Sinner 6-3 6-2 6-1 De Minaur* A forehand on to the line, then a tremendous return followed by an inside-out backhand winner; 0-30, and this has been ruthless, near-faultless from the champ. And though De Minaur nabs 15, Sinner somehow takes a backhand from behind him, while back peddling, and spirits it down the line for another winner, raising two match points. The first disappears via service winner, but a booming backhand on to the line incites De Minaur to go long, and the kicking is complete, done and done in an hour 48. Sinner was spectacular tonight, and the scary thing is he can play better than that; Demon did all he could.
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*Sinner 6-3 6-2 5-1 De Minaur A service winner and an overhead winner, then a long forehand; 30-15. Then 40-15, a glorious backhand winner from the corner, and the champ is a game away. So to him from here, I can’t see that Djokovic, having beaten Alcaraz hurt in a physical match, can beat Zverev then him, which leaves the German…
Sinner 6-3 6-2 4-1 De Minaur* This match as good as over, it’s hard not to think of the next, and Ben Shelton will present sinner with more of a challenge. He’s got a big serve with the lefty angle and gigantic forehand, has beaten Sinner on hard, and will believe he can get it done. De Minaur holds to love, and is on the board in set three.
*Sinner 6-3 6-2 4-0 De Minaur A long rally, De Minaur trying everything, but eventually he nets, and that’s the crux of it: he can beat more powerful players with consistently, but what if a more powerful player is yet more consistent? That’s this, I’m afraid, and Sinner makes 40-0 with a service-winner, Tim cites Federer’s 17-0 record over Ferrer as a comparator, then the champ closes out.
Sinner 6-3 6-2 3-0 De Minaur* Before the match, Darren Cahill, Sinner’s coach confirmed to Eurosport that this will be their last year together, explaining that after four or five years you’ve done all you can and it’s time for a new voice. But what a player he’s leaving: though the volleying needs improvement it’s still pretty good; otherwise, everything is there. And from 0-30 he quickly makes 30-all, then monsters shots in the next rally until De Minaur wipes wide, and here comes a point for a double break … taken when a forehand flies long. Sinner leads by two sets and two breaks, which is to say it’s a matter of time and not much of it.
*Sinner 6-3 6-2 2-0 De Minaur Er, yeah. It’s pretty flat inside Laver, I’m afraid, because this isn’t a contest. Sinner consolidates to love, and Demon isn’t long for this competition.
Sinner 6-3 6-2 1-0 De Minaur* Sinner wafts a backhand long for 0-15, but De Minaur then nets; he’ll be relieved to see the Italian send a backhand wide next point. But at 40-15, a ball on to the line persuades him to go long, and that brings pressure because he really can’t afford to be broken here. And he might be, because he whacks a forehand long, raising deuce, then nets to hand over break point, and that’s not really surprising: the constant jeopardy must be extremely mentally taxing. Shonuff, though sinner mishits a return, he soon snatches momentum, and though De Minaur restores it with a good forehand, he then thrashes another wide. He knows, I’m afraid; most likely, he always did. Sinner breaks in the first game of a set for the second time, and is five holds away from the last four.
*Sinner 6-3 6-2 De Minaur An overhead makes 15-0, then a body-serve/forehand combo is good enough for 30. De Minaur then tamely nets the return of a second serve, handing over three set-points in the process, and another huge delivery seals as calm a serving out as you’ll see.
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Sinner 6-3 5-2 De Minaur* A big serve and forehand makes 15-all, then a forehand to the corner sets up a putaway; De Minaur is trying to finish points as soon as he can now. And when Sinner sends a volley wide, he has two game points, converting the first, and the champ will have to serve for set two. I fear he may cope.
*Sinner 6-3 5-1 De Minaur Sinner quickly makes 30-0, then De Minaur nets a forehand before deciding he’s going to unload the suitcase at everything, leaping into every shot … until he nets s backhand. A love consolidation, and you feel for him: he’s so dedicated, so good, and so powerless, in front of his home crowd. That will be stinging, be he’ll also know how proud he should be.
Sinner 6-3 4-1 De Minaur* Up 15-0, De Minaur nets a forehand, and that’s the thing with Sinner: he’s not just bigger and more powerful than you, he’s also more metronomic than you. That’s forcing Demon to go for lines – we said earlier that he has to because the scurrying approach isn’t working – but he hits wide on the forehand for 15-30, doing well to Sinner go long and hand over 30-all. But oh dear me, Demon races in to dispatch a backhand and the relentless pressure tells: desperate to finish the rally, he overhits and not by a little … but rebounds superbly to save break point with an ace. Again, though, he builds a rally well only to overhit, then serves into the net, and he’s in deep here … but does brilliantly to seize control of the next rally with a forehand on the run and down the line, finishing into the open court to restore deuce. Another long exchange doth ensue, De Minaur well in the point … until he isn’t, a murderous forehand down the line raising Sinner another advantage, and though he’s sent to the corner with an excellent forehand, he responds with an animal cross-court that’s just too ridiculous, sends another behind it, and that’s the double-break. The Aussie is giving it everything but there’s nothing he can do and he knows it.
*Sinner 6-3 3-1 De Minaur Excellent from De Minaur, riding Sinner’s thrashing before moving in, the attempted backhand pass dropping wide. Yeah, er, um: a service winner quickly restores parity, the ability to unleash monsters on demand an extremely useful one, and another biggun sets up the next point. Very quickly, it’s 40-15, and a yet another brute out wide is quickly cleaned up via leaping forehand.
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Sinner 6-3 2-1 De Minaur* A double to open the game – is De Minaur still disappointed with how he played break point? – but an error from Sinner followed by a forehand winner from the Aussie make 30-15. But increased aggression can also mean increased unforced errors, and when a forehand falls long, the champ has a sniff. De Minaur, though, plays a fine next point, hitting deep and towards the lines, before discovering a lovely cross-court angle to break the sideline and raise game point – quickly converted when Sinner returns into the net.
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*Sinner 6-3 2-0 De Minaur Down 30-15, De Minaur lands a return on to the tootsies and tries to noise things up, then actually hits it harder from the back, eliciting the error! And that makes sense: the Aussie can’t wait it out, because if he does, a winner will soon come; his only hope is to seize the initiative and go for stuff, and break point up, his time is now. But he can’t return a serve down the middle – he really ought to have done – and from there, Sinner closes out, sealing the consolidation with a cunning drop.
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Sinner 6-3 1-0 De Minaur* De Minaur makes 15-0 then does everything he can in the next rally, dictating, chasing, sending Sinner to the corner … and getting passed cross-court by a brilliant forehand winner. And Sinner outlasts him in the next point too, making 15-30, before seizing the next rally … only to overhit a forehand having opened the space down the line. The Aussie is busting his ass just to stay close and is soon down break point, netting a forehand after a fine return put him in trouble, and when he loses a rat-a-tat-tat at the net, he’s a set and a break down. This is not, I’m afraid, a contest; or at least, it’s close … until it isn’t.
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*Sinner 6-3 De Minaur Good approach from Sinner, well chased by De Minaur, who flaps a backhand down the line that the Italian lets go … and it drops in! But it’s soon 30-15, big forehands followed by a serve out wide and clean-up backhand. Another big serve out wide follows, this time backed up by a forehand that raises two set points, and a service winner does the necessary. This is ominous, the champ doing what he does, which is too good for what De Minaur does.
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Sinner 5-3 De Minaur* De Minaur is holding easily now, a lovely backhand down the line making 15-0, then a second serve into the body cramping Sinner. And the champ then nets a backhand; he’ll now have to serve for the first set.
*Sinner 5-2 De Minaur Er, no. Sinner holds to love and looks so calm. He knows he can’t really lose this, and to feel that in a grand slam semi, as defending champ and world no 1, must make one extremely chill.
Sinner 4-2 De Minaur* It’s an unfortunate thing really, but there are players not as good as De Minaur – Ben Shelton, say – who have a better chance of winning a slam than he does because if a big game hits at the right time, it might be able to beat another big game. And the likes of Shelton can work on or hide their weaknesses an unpowered game will forever be underpowered. I guess that might be hard to take, because it seems so unfair, or perhaps because it’s almost a fact it might be relaxing, like accepting gravity means we can’t fly. Yeah, right: we might mot be able to, but we still want to. De Minaur holds easily enough, but can he break?
*Sinner 4-1 De Minaur Now then! Demon makes 0-15 then tries a short slice to bring Sinner forward, the 22nd shot of the rally, and the response goes long; that might be a tactic, he must’ve been reading the blog at change of ends. Problem is, hitting the perfect slice is so difficult, and when you can bomb down consecutive service-winners, as Sinner does, it barely matters. And from there, the champ serves out easily, consolidating the break; he looks close to unstoppable out there.
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Sinner 3-1 De Minaur* At 30-0, the longest rally of the match so far, De Minaur coming to the net having worked the opportunity, only to net his backhand volley … and a netted forehand next point means he’s in a spot a bother. Ach, another netted forehand follows and at 30-40, that missed putaway suddenly looks expensive. But though Sinner doesn’t properly get after a second serve, allowing Demon to make deuce, after saving advantage he takes it for himself, fantastic deep hitting from the back just too much for his opponent to handle, then they go again and again it’s De Mianur who wilts, netting a backhand. That’s the break, and so far this is going exactly as it always goes with no sense there’s anything that can be done to make things different.
*Sinner 2-1 De Minaur Fantastic de-fence from De-mon as Sinner unleashes, digging out a two-handed volley the finish off and make 30-0; an ace follows. He does then net a backhand, but a further ace secures the hold, and the champ looks serene out there.
Sinner 1-1 De Minaur* Sinner is wearing primrose on his top half, white on his bottom which, given all the gear one might go for, is both surprising and representative of his even character. I fear that if I were world no 1 and even if I wasn’t, 1, I’d be making early-90s Agassi look tame. OK, fear is strong, but you never know! Demon holds to 30 and they’re just feeling each other out at the moment, but there may be a problem in the crowd as the umpire is on the phone.
*Sinner 1-0 De Minaur (denotes server) Cheers as Sinner, welcomed on to court as enthusiastically as De Minaur, nets a backhand for 15-all; #thehappyslam, #classytouch etc etc. From there, though, the champ serves out with no alarms and no surprises.
Sinner has the balls, ready … play.
Darren Cahill, Sinner’s coach, says he’s much better than on Monday, when he beat Holger Rune despite being crook. I wonder how Rune’s ego handled that defeat, because like all of us he has one, it’s just more pronounced than the average.
They think the body-serve might cramp Sinner and push him over the baseline, so he can’t hit the ball on the rise, but that’s all they’ve got really. But it’s time to actually see because the players are coming out, and what a moment this must be for De Minaur, marching out in front of his home crowd, the eyes of Australia upon him. He’s ready for this, I think, but is his best good enough?
In the Eurosport studio, Tim notes that Lleyton Hewitt was a problem for him in match-up; Mats that he struggled against Boris Becker and Pete Sampras on fast courts. Er, you and everyone else ever to play the game, old mate. But can they find a route to victory for Demon?
I guess Demon has to keep him moving – if he plants his feet it’s over – serve as well as he can, hit his drops well, and hope Sinner has an off-day.
Anyone? Bueller? Bue-ller?
How do you beat Jannik Sinner? Well, if you’re a creative genius with power, or a complete machine, that helps, but what if you’re not Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic? Then what?
In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek beat Emma Navarro 1 and 2; Madison Keys beat Elina Svitolina 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Those two meet tomorrow following Aryna Sabalenka v Paulo Badosa, and I can’t wait for either. Keys has a massive game and her top level is serious; if she’s on, she’s every chance of beating Swiatek, having found better control and patience without compromising power.
Badosa, meantime, has a huge game and might finally have worked out how to manage it. She’ll have seen how Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova outhit Sabalenka yesterday and fancy she can do the same, without starting slowly and fading at the end.
Or, in other words, the draw has been kind to us.
Back to Shelton, he’s a fantastic athlete with a brilliant mentality, excellent serve and nuclear forehand. The problem he has, though, is his backhand – Coach Calv notes “there’s some mad stat that if you make him play one the first shot of a rally, he only wins the point 15% of the time or something.”
I’d actually back him to beat De Minaur; it’s hard to see what he has that Sinner doesn’t.
Next on Laver: Jannik Sinner (1) v Alex de Minaur (8).
“Shout out Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis,” he begins, laughing. He’s really happy to be through and win his first match on Laver, one of his favourites in his career.
He accepts that if he meets Demon next the crowd can boo him, chuck stuff at him and all the rest, and expects the same if he’s against the world no 1.
Then, of course, he finishes with a fraternal “Let’s go baby!” and he’s so much fun; he’s got such competitive charisma.
Wild celebrations from Shelton, as you might expect, and here he is…
Ben Shelton (21) beats Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6(4)
A body-serve sets up the point, finished by Shelton with two colossal inside-out forehands. He meets Sinner or De Minaur in the semi.
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A big serve, a return into the net, and at 6-4, Shelton has two match points!
Shelton hurls himself after a drop, somehow finding the strength to get under it and flip it back – Sonego puts away easily – before splattering the hoardings in crowd-pleasing fashion. He does press-ups to bank the laughs, then Sonego misses a volley and at 5-4, he’s two serves away from the last four!
Sonego just won’t go away and more than that, he’s playing well; we’re 3-3 in the breaker.
Email! “I know that World No 1 vs Local Boy is the big draw today, but the attendance at the Shelton-Sonego quarter-final is embarrassing,” emails Keith Shaw. “Do you know how the ticketing works?”
I do not, but I imagine the relative emptiness is because day-sesh people have chipped. At Wimbledon, you have queues to fill the gaps, but maybe they don’t operate that system; maybe there’s no demand for it.
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And Shelton serves out to 15 for his breaker.
Sonego survives a break point to hold for 6-5 in the fourth, guaranteeing himself a tiebreak. This is a proper physical tussle.
But first, we’ve the end of Ben Shelton (21) 6-4 7-5 4-6 5-5 Lorenzo Sonego. Good!
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Preamble
G’day and welcome to the Australian Open 2025 – day 11, night session!
There’s something cartoonish about today’s tussle: the big, powerful defending champ takes on the little, scurrying local hero. Except in the cartoon version, it’s the smaller man who wins, whereas reality is somewhat different.
Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur have played each other nine times, and Sinner has won on each occasion. He hits it harder and more accurately; he serves better, returns better and volleys better. There’s no shame in that – he does almost all of those things better than almost everyone else in the world – but consequently, it’s not easy to find De Minaur a route to victory.
And yet he’s never had a better chance. Sinner was ill through his last match, so might not be fully recovered; De Minaur is fitter than in some time; the crowd are on his side; the cooler night is better for his indefatigable chasing; and what if the cartoon is not a series but a film?
OK, we’re reaching. But regardless of who wins and how, this should be a terrific contest. Let’s go!
Play: 7.30pm local, 8.30pm GMT
