Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: World no. 1 Jannik Sinner successfully defended his men’s singles title at the Australian Open on January 26. The top seed defeated second seed German Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in two hours and 42 minutes in the championship match at Rod Laver Arena. With his triumph, the 23-year-old became the youngest man to win multiple Australian Open titles since Jim Courier in 1992-93. This is Sinner’s third major title in his third Grand Slam final.
After sweeping the Australian Open and US Open in 2024, the Italian also extended his win streak at the hard-court majors to 21 matches.
Moreover, Sinner became the first man to successfully defend their maiden Grand Slam title since Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006 and became the first player since 1973 to land 10 successive straight-sets victories over top-10 opponents.
He also became the first player from Italy to triumph at three Grand Slam tournaments. Sinner has now joined the elite company as just the eighth man after Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Gustavo Kuerten, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz as the only men in the Open era to win their first three Grand Slam finals.
Since assuming his place as world No.1 in June last year, the Italian has been the most effective since ATP rankings began and has racked up a staggering 47-3 win/loss record. Sinner also took his haul to six titles from nine events in that period.
For Zverev, who is now 0-3 in major finals, the wait for a Grand Slam title will continue. The World No. 2 was aiming to become the fifth German man to lift a Grand Slam trophy but was unable to gain a foothold in Sunday’s one-sided final.
