First Daniil Medvedev dominates the final. But then the Italian turns up the heat – at the end the 22-year-old celebrates.
Jannik Sinner is the winner of the Australian Open 2024. In the final in Melbourne on Sunday, the Italian beat the Russian Daniil 3:6, 3:6, 6:4, 6:4 and 6:3 after being two sets down Medvedev prevailed and, thanks to this energetic performance, won the first Grand Slam tournament of his career after 3:44 hours.
Medvedev prevailed in the semifinals against the German Alexander Zverev, and Sinner eliminated the top favorite and world number one Novak Djokovic with a very strong performance. In the final, however, the 22-year-old was initially unable to repeat his outstanding form from the last match, but fought back and then crowned his comeback with the title.
The South Tyrolean was the dominant player for two weeks and had not lost a set until the semi-finals. For Medvedev, however, it was the third defeat in a final in Melbourne. The world number three had to admit defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022. Two years ago he gave up a 2-0 set lead against Nadal, as he did now against Sinner.
This is how the final went:
Sinner was clearly nervous in the most important game of his career so far. The Italian conceded an early break and made an unusually large number of slight mistakes. Medvedev, however, stepped up the pace two days after his marathon match against Zverev. In the previous tournament, the Russian had been on the court for a good six hours longer than Sinner, who had only lost one set in the semifinals against Djokovic. Medvedev was therefore interested in scoring quick points and keeping the pressure on Sinner.
He did this impressively for two sentences. He won the first round after just 36 minutes. In the second set he took serve from Sinner twice and quickly moved away to 5:1. Against Djokovic, Sinner didn’t allow a single break point in the entire game. Now he had already conceded three breaks in two sets and looked desperately at a trainer Darren Cahill in the stands.
The experienced coach tried to calm Sinner and encourage him. And indeed, last year’s Davis Cup champion was finally starting to find his form. Sinner shortened the score to 3:5, fended off a set point from Medvedev and had a break point himself. But Medvedev survived the critical phase and also took the second set.
Sinner stayed on the trigger
Sinner had finally reached the final. The 22-year-old made fewer mistakes and was much more powerful. At the same time, Medvedev could see the strain of the past games. From then on, Sinner controlled the rallies and took the third set to the cheers of the spectators.
The Italian stayed on the trigger and had a few break chances at the beginning of the fourth round. But Medvedev held on and still found a way to maintain his service. Until 4:5 – then Sinner managed the break and forced a deciding set. There Medvedev was completely at the end of his strength. Sinner managed the break to 4:2 and won the title a little later.