- Jannik Sinner has won the Australian Open
- The Italian fought from two sets down to win
- It is the 22-year-old’s first Grand Slam title
Generation Next has arrived – with a bang – after Jannik Sinner roared back from two sets down to see off Daniil Medvedev in an epic Australian Open final in Melbourne.
In almost four tense hours, Sinner went from tennis’s next big thing to the sport’s new superstar with a pulsating 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 final victory over Medvedev on Sunday evening.
Two days after showcasing his sublime skills with a seismic semi-final knockout of 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, the 22-year-old Italian put in a display of heart and will to claim his first Grand Slam crown.
Australian supercoach Darren Cahill repeatedly urged his special assignment to ‘weather the storm’ as Medvedev stormed through the first two sets to take a stranglehold on the match.
And Sinner found himself as the Russian world number three suffered a painful case of deja vu at Rod Laver Arena.
Jannik Sinner has won the Australian Open men’s singles title
The Italian defeated Daniil Medvedev in a five-set thriller in Melbourne
Two years ago, Medvedev squandered a two-set lead to love in a crushing final defeat to Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park.
Now lightning has struck twice and Medvedev will surely be haunted by his latest collapse for years to come, even if it is completely understandable.
The tennis ironman had toiled for a whopping 20 hours and 33 minutes to reach the title match and was looking to join Djokovic as the second player in the 56-year Open era to twice recover from two sets down to win a grand slam win the tournament.
However, Sinner proved a bridge too far for Medvedev in the first AO final since 2005, which did not involve any of the sport’s big three, Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer.
Fourth-seeded Sinner went into the final as the most popular player in the world.
His semi-final success against Djokovic ended tennis super Novak’s six-year, 33-match winning streak at Rod Laver Arena and appeared to signal the changing of the guard.
And so it proved, ultimately after a gigantic final match in which the number four in the world had to do everything he could to prevent Medvedev from conquering an elusive second major.
After failing to offer Djokovic a single break point opportunity for the first time in the Serbian’s illustrious 415-match Grand Slam career, Sinner’s serve faltered just two games into the title match.
Medvedev set the tone early, breaking the Italian in the fourth game on his way to a near-flawless opening set.
Medvedev had opened up a two-set lead but ran out of steam after a marathon campaign
It is the second time that the Russian has thrown away a two-set lead in a slam final
The Muscovite continued to play light-out tennis in the second inning, putting the match in a stranglehold.
But almost inevitably, in a Grand Slam with a record 35 five-set battles, the final took a dramatic turn.
Medvedev almost out of nowhere dropped serve at 4-5 in both the third and fourth sets, setting up a nail-biting decider.
And it was Sinner who had the upper hand. He broke Medvedev for the fourth time in the sixth game of the fifth set and then kept up the form to seal victory after three hours and 44 drama-filled minutes.