MELBOURNE, Australia – Janik Sinner claimed his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday, not facing a single break point and using his perfect game to beat Alexander Zverev 6-3 , ousting and frustrating with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final.
A 23-year-old Italian, Sinner is the youngest man to leave the trophy in two consecutive years since Jim Courier in 1992-93.
Sinner rose to first place last June and has remained there every week since, with the gap between him and Zverev in second place pronounced as likely as Rod Laver Arena.
This was the first Australian Open final between the No. 1 and No. 2 men since 2019.
Here's how dominant Sinners has been since the start of last season. He won three of the five major tournaments, including the US Open in September, and his record over that span is 80-6 with nine tournament titles total. His current unbeaten run covers 21 games dating back to last year.
The only thing that has clouded the last 12 months for the guilty party is the doping case that was cleared by a ruling in which he was sued by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
He tested for trace amounts of anabolic steroids twice last March, but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. . The culprits were initially exonerated in August. A hearing on WADA's appeal is scheduled for April.
Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (started in 1968) to start his career at 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, while Zverev was the seventh to be 0-3 and the 2020 U.S. Add this loss to the open and open people. 2024 French Open.
Both of these previous setbacks now come in sets of 5. This contest wasn't that close.
Not at all.
