Sinner and his perfect Italian job

The fourth seed, only 22, did a reset two years ago; it has helped him set up a semi versus Djokovic

- Ashish Magotra

It was 1:23am in Melbourne as Jannik Sinner swatted away a forehand in the quarterfinal against Andrey Rublev to seal a spot in his first Australian Open semi-final. The match had gone on for two hours and 39 minutes and both players had slugged it out from the back of the court. But the Italian's celebration - he just bounced on his toes four times seemed to suggest that he could have done this all night if needed.

He had the energy to spare and it shouldn't surprise anyone because even before the 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3 win over fifth seed Rublev, few players on the tour have stood in the way of Sinner's red-hot streak. He is 17-1 in his last 18 matches two of the wins came against a certain Novak Djokovic. The confidence was on display again Rublev too. The clean ball-striking by both was a joy to behold but Sinner, the fourth seed, found a way to win the big points. The Russian worked his way to eight breakpoints. How many did he manage to convert? Zero.

Rublev was also leading 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker. But Sinner looked to stay aggressive and was perhaps helped by the wind. These moments were the dealbreakers during the first two sets when there was little to separate the two. "Today was three sets but I could've lost both (the first two sets). He had so many break points and I served really well," Sinner said during the on-court interview.