Italy’s Jannik Sinner showed why he is the world No.1 on Sunday as he used his early power and consistent performance to defeat Germany’s Alexander Zverev to win his second straight Australian Open singles title.
Soni needed two hours, 42 minutes to post a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in Melbourne. With his win at the US Open last fall, Sinner has won three of the past five men’s Grand Slam titles.
Against Zverev, he did not face a break point and won 84 percent of the points during his first serve and 63 percent of his second serve.
“He’s in a different place right now than anyone else,” Zverev said of Sinner, comparing him to 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic at his height.
Sinner, 23, has won 21 games in a row in the majors. He is the first player since Djokovic in 2015-16 to win three consecutive hard-court Grand Slam tournaments.
He is the first Italian man to win three majors, and he is the first man to defend his first championship since Rafael Nadal did it in 2005-06.
In the second game of the match, Zverev had a chance to change the situation but failed. Tied at 4 points, she lost serve, and Sinner won the next two points to go up 2-0.
Soni cruised through the third set and ended up with 32 winners and 27 unforced errors, compared to 25 and 45, respectively, for Zverev. The Germans hit 12 aces.
Zverev tried to be more aggressive in the match and take Sinner off the serve and into the net, but the Italian seemed to play there, winning 77 percent (10 of 13) of his shots there.
Sinner thanked his team after the match for helping him prepare to win another Australian Open.
“For my team, what can I say. We worked hard to be in this position again,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling to share this moment with you.”
Zverev, 27, has cemented his title as the best player — and perhaps the best — never to win a title. The match against Sinner was his third Grand Slam final, following a heartbreaking five-set loss to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open and a loss at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open.
In a heartbreaking moment after the match, Sinner hugged a tearful Zverev on the court and offered words of encouragement.
“I was very low,” Zverev said. “I was also upset at that stage. I think he saw that. He said that I would definitely raise one of those lips in my career. I’m too good not to. Those are his words.”
It is clear that Sinner and Alcaraz form the next two pegs in the next Big Three, ready to eat the title of Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer.
Zverev said he has to do something if he is going to play at Sinner’s level.
“He completely beat me. From the back of the court, he completely beat me,” said Zverev, who still leads Sinner 4-3 in their head-to-head match. “Like I said before, I serve better than him, but it’s true. He does everything better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better. He’s better than me.
“At the end of the day, tennis has five or six big shots, like big hoops, and he did four or five of them better than me. That’s why he won. He deserved to win today.”
–Field Level Media