After losing the first two sets, Jannik Sinner achieved an epic comeback against Daniil Medvedev and is the champion of Australian Open 2024! The 22-year-old Italian tennis player demonstrated an impressive power of reaction and defeated the 27-year-old Russian after more than three and a half hours of play on Rod Laver Arena and won his first career Grand Slam title in his first final. major.
Medvedev now accumulates his third runner-up in Melbourne after losing in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in 2021 and also in 2022 after another historic turn, only for Rafael Nadal. The Russian, who maintains third place in the ATP rankings, competed in the 6th Slam final of his career, having won only the US Open de 2021. He was also runner-up at the 2019 and 2023 US Open.
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Sinner, which occupies 4th position in the world, ends its brilliant campaign in Happy Slam, after eliminating the #1 seed Djoko in the semifinals, Andrey Rublev, 5th in the ranking, in the quarterfinals and Karen Khachanov in the round of 16. The Italian was only unseeded in two games over the two weeks.
The final started with a blistering pace from Medvedev. The Russian surprised Sinner by being very aggressive and managed to break the Italian’s serve in the 3rd game of the 1st set. The number 3 in the world performed almost perfectly and managed to close the end with another break in service. 6 a 3 in less than 36 minutes.
Daniil, who did not face any break points, fired 6 aces and committed just one double fault in the 1st end against just 2 aces and no double faults from Jannik. In the Winners, Medvedev also had the advantage with 14 winning balls against just 5 from Sinner, but he also made 14 unforced errors against 8 from the Italian.
In the 2nd set, the Russian, US Open 2021 champion, continued to crush and went 5-1 up against Sinner with two breaks. When Medvedev went to serve to close the end, the Italian reacted, broke the Russian’s serve for the first time in the final and returned to the game. However, the world No. 3 slowed down the 22-year-old tennis player’s momentum, saved a break point at 5-3 and managed to close the partial with serve.
Sinner managed to be more aggressive and scored five points on the net in the 2nd set, something he hadn’t done once in the 1st set. However, he made more unforced errors (14) than Medvedev (8) in the partial.
In the 3rd set, the Italian balanced the final once and for all and started to serve much better and scored 4 aces in the partial. At 4-5, Sinner managed to break Medvedev’s serve with great effort, taking the partial in 45 minutes and staying alive in the match.
The 22-year-old tennis player continued his reaction and created, in fact, a dramatic atmosphere for Medvedev. The 4th set remained unbroken and very close until, once again, the 27-year-old Russian served under pressure at 4-5. At that moment, Sinner grew and counted on some unforced errors from the Russian to win the partial and tie the final. Jannik still fluctuated a lot, but didn’t let himself get discouraged by some silly mistakes.
In the decisive set, Medvedev began to show clear signs of fatigue and at some points, he did not run for some balls that he already considered “lost”. The Russian tennis player played two matches lasting more than four hours during his campaign at Melbourne Park and was the finalist who spent the most time on the court in a single edition of the Grand Slam. Daniil played 31 sets, including those in the final, and spent 24 hours on the court during the two weeks of the Happy Slam.
Now, Sinner, started the fifth set flying and rocked by the fans. During his campaign, the world No. 3 lost just one set before the final and, precisely, to Djokovic in the semifinal.
In the 6th game of the partial, the Italian tennis player broke the Russian and was ahead of Medvedev for the first time in the partial. Sinner maintained the advantage and confirmed the turnaround with 6 a 3 no 5º set thanks to a great serve in the final stretch of the match. An unprecedented title for Jannik and the delight of the Italian fans present in Australia. It was the first singles title for Italy in the history of the Australian Open.
The young Italian tennis player also ended an impressive run of Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. The last time the Australian Open champion was not part of the Big Three was in 2014 with Swiss Stan Wawrinka. Sinner became the second youngest player to win a Grand Slam final after losing the first two sets. The record holder is Bjorn Borg who was Roland Garros champion at the age of 18.
The 2024 Australian Open final marked the 10th meeting between the tennis players on the ATP circuit. Medvedev still has the upper hand with 6 wins, but Sinner has defeated the Russian in their last 4 meetings, including last year’s ATP Finals semi-final. The decision of the Happy Slam was the first confrontation between the finalists in majors.