Jannik Sinner of Italy. Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Jannik Sinner continues unreal run at hard-court majors

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Jan 22, 2025 8:16 AM ET

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is officially the most unstoppable force on hard courts since prime Novak Djokovic. And even the latter didn't put together the type of run the Italian is on over the last 18 months.

With his demolition job of World No. 8 Alex de Minaur in the Australian Open quarterfinal on Wednesday, Sinner extended his winning streak at hard-court majors to 19 matches, including his wins at last year's Australian Open and U.S. Open. The 23-year-old won seven hard-court titles in 2024, including the year-ending ATP Finals in Turin. Remarkably, 16 of his 18 career titles have come on hard courts with just one title on grass and one on clay.

At 23 years and 159 days, Sinner is the youngest to reach back-to-back semifinals at Melbourne Park since Rafael Nadal. Furthermore, he's now tied with Nadal and Roger Federer as the quickest to notch 20 wins at the Australian Open.

23, 159 - At 23y 159d, Jannik Sinner has become the youngest player to reach back-to-back Men’s Singles semi-finals at the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal (2008-09). Cruise.#AO2025 | @AustralianOpen @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/CvXFEEp04M
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 22, 2025

20 - Jannik Sinner has moved to 20-4 at the Australian Open – Sinner (24) has now taken the equal-fewest matches to register 20 Men’s Singles wins at the event since 2000, along with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Machine.#AO2025 | @AustralianOpen @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/WUDbHoxJ0A
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 22, 2025

With 34 wins from his last 35 matches, Sinner has not tasted defeat since losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of last year's Beijing Open. Yet, he was on upset alert entering Wednesday's Australian Open quarterfinal after enduring a medical issue in his fourth-round win against Holger Rune. Following his straight-sets win over De Minaur, Sinner admitted he was close to 100 percent health again.

"I feel like today I was feeling everything," he said, via ATP Tour. "...These kinds of matches, they can go quickly, but also they can change very fast if I go down with my level a little bit and he takes opportunities. I'm very happy about my performance today."

Sinner will next face American World No. 20 Ben Shelton in Friday's semifinal. All signs point to a Sinner versus Djokovic final on Sunday, unless Shelton and Alexander Zverev pull off a pair of upsets.

The list of Italians to reach multiple AO semifinals:

Jannik Sinner

End of list. pic.twitter.com/HDiboWfchy
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2025

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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