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Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev will meet in the 2025 Australian Open men’s singles final.
The top two seeds in the draw advanced to Sunday’s championship match in two different fashions on Friday in Melbourne.
Sinner produced a straight-set win over Ben Shelton, while Zverev needed just one set to get past Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic retired from the match once the first-set tiebreak ended. He was dealing with a muscle tear that he suffered in his quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz.
No. 1 Jannik Sinner def. No. 21 Ben Shelton, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 Alexander Zverev def. No. 7 Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (5) (retired)
Sinner was the only one of the two Australian Open finalists to play a full match on Friday.
However, the top-seeded Italian shouldn’t be at a significant disadvantage in rest compared to Zverev since he won in straight sets.
Sinner was pushed into a first-set tiebreak by Shelton and then cruised in the second and third sets, where he lost just four games.
The reigning Australian Open champion has gotten better throughout the tournament. He produced consecutive three-set victories in the quarterfinals against No. 8 seed Alex De Minaur and on Friday versus the 21st-seeded Shelton.
Zverev appeared to be in for a long fight with Djokovic inside Rod Laver Arena.
The first set between the Nos. 2 and 7 seeds lasted 82 minutes, but the match ended abruptly once Zverev captured the first set through a tiebreak.
Djokovic, who did not practice between his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, was dealing with too much pain and had to withdraw.
Zverev qualified for his third Grand Slam final. He is 0-2 in the previous two finals. He was ahead in both of them before losing the fourth and fifth sets.
Sinner is 2-0 in his two Grand Slam finals. He rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Daniil Medvedev last year in Australia and he beat Taylor Fritz in straight sets to win the 2024 U.S. Open.
Zverev holds a 4-2 head-to-head advantage over Sinner. That record includes a 2-1 mark in favor of Zverev at majors, with both wins coming on hard court at the U.S. Open in 2021 and 2023.
