Ben Shelton surged past Casper Ruud with fearless flair, but the run stopped cold in the quarterfinals. Jannik Sinner proved too strong, sealing a 3-6, 4-6, 4-6 win to end the American’s Australian Open campaign. With the hurdle cleared, the Italian now turns toward a blockbuster semifinal and has already shared his mindset ahead of facing Novak Djokovic on Friday.

After his victory, Jannik Sinner was asked about facing tennis greats on court. He was reminded that he never played Roger Federer, faced Rafael Nadal at a young age, and has already met Novak Djokovic five times in Grand Slams. 

He explained what those experiences mean to him as a player. “These are the moments you practice for. I will wake up in the morning and will look forward to playing a good match, hopefully. If you want to win, you have to play at your best, so I am looking forward to (playing the match).” 

“In the past, I had great lessons that it doesn’t really matter the results, it improves you as a player, and we are lucky to have Novak here playing incredible tennis with his age,” he added.

Finally, Sinner addressed the fans and the scale of the battle ahead: “And also we play for you guys, and we also play for us, and hopefully it will be a great battle out here, and it’s going to be a very, very difficult match.”

Sinner has enjoyed notable success against Djokovic at the semi-final stage. He defeated the Serbian in Melbourne in 2024, at Roland Garros in 2025, and at Wimbledon in 2025.

The upcoming semi-final will be a rematch of the 2024 Australian Open semi-final. In that match, Djokovic lost his first Australian Open match since 2018 as Sinner ended Djokovic’s 33-match winning streak at Melbourne.

The match lasted three hours and 26 minutes, testing both players physically and mentally. Case in point: Djokovic struggled throughout that 2024 clash, committing 54 unforced errors and visibly frustrated with his level.

“I was, in a way, shocked with my level, in a bad way,” Djokovic said afterward. “There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets. I guess this is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played. At least that I remember.”

He added, “Not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, credit to him for doing everything better than me, in every aspect of the game.”

Even in his post-match press conference today, Sinner was asked how his life changed after beating Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Australian Open. He reflected on the impact of that breakthrough win and the expectations that followed.

“Winning against Novak, it does change a bit,” Sinner said. He later added, “But at the same time, you have to do it over and over again. It’s very difficult. It’s one of the toughest challenges we have in our sport.”

Sinner also praised Djokovic’s enduring level. “As I said on court, it’s great to have Novak playing at this level still. A very, very, very high level. Grand Slams are always very difficult against Novak. Let’s see what’s coming.”

As the 2026 AO semi-final now approaches, Sinner is aware of the challenge. He also reflected on his performance after defeating Ben Shelton, the last American hope, who is now eliminated from the Australian Open.

Jannik Sinner shares his thoughts after a straight-sets win over Ben Shelton

Jannik Sinner kept his AO three-peat bid alive on Wednesday. He produced a ruthless performance to defeat Ben Shelton in straight sets.

The two-time defending champion, unbeaten in Melbourne since 2023, never looked in serious danger. Shelton could not find a way to challenge the Italian.

Shelton had dropped just one set on his way to a third Australian Open quarterfinal. However, he struggled to unleash his explosive game against Sinner, as in their previous meetings.

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Sinner targeted Shelton’s backhand, pressured his forehand, and dictated play from the baseline. The victory improved Sinner’s H2H record over Shelton to 9-1. All four of their Grand Slam encounters have now gone Sinner’s way. He won twice in Australia and twice at Wimbledon.

“It is very tough to play against Ben,” Sinner said after the match. “He has a huge, huge serve, and I feel like he is improving so much, year after year. Especially after the offseason, you don’t know how certain players are going to play against you, and change lots of things. I am very happy with today’s performance.”

Sinner has won all 18 of his Grand Slam matches against American opponents. He also owns a 6-2 record against Top 10 players at the hard-court major, having lost his first two encounters to Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2022 and 2023.

With Novak Djokovic now aiming for his 25th Grand Slam, Sinner faces a daunting semifinal challenge. Can the Italian overcome the Serbian and move into the final?