Australian Open: Jannik Sinner fights from two sets down to claim men’s singles title

Playing in his first Grand Slam final, Jannik Sinner managed to climb out of the hole of being two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open and win the men’s singles title on Sunday. Before Sunday, no Italian had won the men’s singles title at the Australian Open.

After nearly a decade, Sinner became the first Australian Open champion not named Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer in what was the first men’s singles final since 2005 not to feature any of the “Big Three”.

Sinner was staring down the barrel after trailing 3-6, 3-6 in the men’s singles final against the Russian. However, the 22-year-old Sinner — who had ended Novak Djokovic’s domination of the tournament in the semi-final — came back strongly to win the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

According to The Associates Press, the third-seeded Medvedev set a record with his fourth five-set match of the tournament and time on court at a major in the Open era, his 24 hours and 17 minutes surpassing Carlos Alcaraz’s 23:40 at the 2022 US Open. The 27-year-old Russian had spent 20 hours and 33 minutes on court through six rounds. That was almost six hours longer than Sinner took to reach the final.

Sinner had only dropped one set through six rounds — in his third-set tiebreaker against 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic — until his five-set comeback win on Sunday.

While Sinner’s route to the final had passed through Djokovic, Medvedev had to survive three five-setters to reach his sixth Grand Slam final.

Medvedev won his first six matches against Sinner, but has now lost four straight.

(With inputs from AP)

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