Australian city of Melbourne In Sunday’s Australian Open men’s final, Jannik Sinner stunned Daniil Medvedev by winning 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 after trailing two sets to none.
With just one set dropped going into the championship match, fourth-seeded Sinner looked certain to fall in straight sets as third-seeded Medvedev breezed to an early two-set lead. However, the Italian settled in halfway through the championship match and won a struggle of will and stamina that lasted three hours and forty-four minutes.
Sinner has won his first major championship in his professional career, while Medvedev has established an unwelcome record by losing repeated finals after winning the opening two sets in Grand Slam history. Additionally, Medvedev blew a two-set.
In an opening set that lasted just 36 minutes, the Russian played with aggression and speed from the start, setting terms for Sinner and scoring 14 wins to the Italian’s five.
Sinner struggled to hold his opening service game in the second set and needed to save four break point opportunities to even the score at one. It appeared that his nerves were still there. After the two traded breaks later in the stanza, Medvedev held to love before putting Sinner back on the defensive and broke for a 3-1 lead en route to winning the second set.
Sinner was careless, missing wide or sending balls long, in complete contrast to the six games before the championship in which he gave up only one.
“I got a little tired physically, but [in] every other match before, my opponents didn’t manage to take advantage of it,” Medvedev stated. Every time it happened during the match, the same thing happened: after two sets, I was losing energy since I hadn’t had enough sleep the night before and had started playing a long time earlier.
“So let’s call it my fault because I needed to win easier matches, but sometimes it’s tough.”
Medvedev faced an uphill battle from history, since no one has ever won a major all in five sets in the semifinal, quarterfinal, or championship match.
The longest-running final equals the record for most five-set matches in a major with the Australian Open. It also establishes a record for the most five-set matches played at an Australian Open.