In a rematch of the 2023 Vienna final, the 22-year-old Italian defeated number three seed Daniil Medvedev in five sets and overturned a 0-2 set deficit. Sinner won after 3:43 hours 3:6.3:6.6:4.6:4.6:3 and is therefore a new winning face at major level. Medvedev missed out on his second title after the 2021 US Open in his sixth Grand Slam final.
The “winner” Sinner can look forward to a winner’s check worth the equivalent of 1.93 million euros. He remains fourth in the rankings for the time being, but what he can also take with him from Melbourne: He also ended Novak Djokovic’s sensational series in Melbourne in the semi-finals and prevented the Serb from winning his 25th Grand Slam title.
Photo gallery: That was the final of the Australian Open
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Medvedev was initially clearly on course for victory. He presented himself as extremely strong from the start and immediately took command. Compared to the preliminary rounds, he played the groundstrokes at a much higher speed and thus did not allow Sinner, who was in the final for the first time at this level, to come into play. An early break to make it 2-1 was the preliminary decision, especially since Medvedev didn’t let anything go wrong with his own service. With the third set ball he even got a second break against the South Tyrolean after 36 minutes to make it 6:3.
The second set also continued in this key style: with breaks to 3:1 and 5:1, Medvedev was clearly ahead again, then Sinner managed a rebreak and shortened it to 3:5. In the ninth game, Medvedev became a little nervous because of Sinner’s brief rebellion and the Italian even had a chance for another break. Then Medvedev used his second set point to make it 6:3 after 1:22 hours. The same result as in the first set, but at least Sinner showed more resistance in the finish.
Sinner took advantage of the opportunity
The third round was more even, especially since both protagonists acted confidently in their service games. But in the tenth game Sinner had an opportunity. Medvedev converted a 0:30 lead to 40:30, but then Sinner took the first opportunity to break and win the set. After 2:09 hours, Sinner made it into “extra time”.
Bild: APA/AFP/PAUL CROCK
The game was now in the balance. Sinner gained self-confidence, while Medvedev, who had spent almost six hours more on the court throughout the tournament, no longer had the power in his groundstrokes to match that of the first two sets. However, Sinner missed a break chance to make it 2:0 and 3:1, after which Medvedev caught himself and missed a break chance that was probably decisive even at 3:3. That was to take revenge, because Sinner, like in the previous set, used his only set point in the tenth game and forced the next five-set fight for Medvedev with a score of 6:4.
His fourth in the seventh game in Melbourne, twice of which Medvedev had turned 0-2 in sets. Now he himself was threatened with this fate of giving up a 2-0 lead in the Melbourne final. In addition, this happened to him almost exactly two years ago in the final against Rafael Nadal, when the Spaniard snatched the Melbourne title from him. Now the Russian was showing all the strains of the tournament, he tried to keep the rallies short and Sinner took full advantage of this. The break to 4:2 was the preliminary decision after 3:33 hours. Ten minutes later, Sinner served in triumph and fell on his back in joy.
By the way, on the final day of the tournament, the impressive record number of visitors in Melbourne Park was increased once again: the 15 tournament days of the main competition have now exceeded the million mark (1.020 million) for the first time, and in the three tournament weeks including qualification it was 1.11 million .
