Shelton Falls In Straight Sets At Australian Open Semifinals

Gators great No.21 Ben Shelton was looking to punch his ticket to his first Australian Open final with a win Friday against world No.1 Jannick Sinner. But after an eventful first set, that Shelton let get away, it was all Sinner, taking the following two sets with relative ease, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 at Melbourne Park.

Shelton jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but could not put the defending champion away when he had the chance. Sinner climbed back to take the 3-2 lead before Shelton responded to knot things up three a piece. After neither man could put their opponent away, the set reached a special tiebreak where Shelton had multiple set points on his serve and could not win it. Sinner took advantage of it and won the final game to clinch the set 7-6.

After letting the first set get away from him, Shelton could not do anything right in the second set. He quickly fell behind 4-0 before losing 6-2. Self-inflicted wounds would be the biggest reason why Shelton was ever to gain any traction in this one. By the time the second set ended, Shelton was up to 43 unforced errors, more than double Sinner’s 18.

The Final Blow

Both men were noticeably dealing with some sort of lower body cramping, which isn’t too out of the ordinary considering it is summertime in Melbourne, Australia, but Sinner, for most of the match, was dealing with what seemed like more than cramping. It looked like Shelton also noticed it at the beginning of the third set. He jumped out to a 1-0 lead and was looking dominant in the second game before being unable to create any separation.

Sinner salutes on semifinal day!

The defending champion will seek back-to-back #AusOpen titles on Sunday.@janniksin • @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/iknm62tST1

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 24, 2025

Sinner, who was playing on one foot by the end of this, got a massive break in the third set to take the lead 3-2 and, from that moment, never looked back. As if he had found a second wind, he quickly mowed Shelton down to clinch the match with a 6-2 win in the third set.

Sinner moves to 5-1 all-time against Shelton, with his only loss coming back in 2023.

Up Next

Sinner will now take on No. 2 Alexander Zverev in the finals Sunday after his win earlier in the day against tennis legend Novak Djokovic,who retired after one set of their semifinal Friday because of a leg injury.