Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev for his second Australian Open title in a row

Jannik sinner won his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday, never facing a single break point and using his all-round game to outplay and frustrate Alexander Zverev for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final.

Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, is the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93.

Sinner rose to No. 1 last June, staying there every week since, and the gap between him and No. 2-ranked Zverev has been as wide as it gets at Rod Laver Arena. This was the first Australian Open final between the No. 1 and No. 2 men since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic beats No. 2 Rafael Nadal – also in consecutive sets.

Here’s how dominant Sinner has been since the start of last season: He’s won three of five majors, including the US Open in September, and his record over that span is 80-6 with a total of nine titles tournament. Their current unbeaten run spans 21 matches, dating back to last year.

The only thing that has darkened the last 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is a doping case in which he was cleared by a decision the World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice last March, but he blamed that on accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner was initially exonerated in August; A hearing into WADA’s appeal is scheduled for April.

While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in a Grand Slam final, Zverev is the seventh to go 0-3, adding this defeat to those of the 2020 US Open and the 2024 French Open.

Those previous losses both came in five sets. This contest wasn’t that close. No way.

There was really only one moment that seemed to contain a hint of tension. It was at the end of the second set, which Zverev was two points away from owning when he led 5-4 and managed to like -30 on Sinner’s serve. But no breaking point – or set point – has ever gotten there.

Zverev didn’t get any closer, losing the next four points, bringing the score to 5. Sinner then emerged with the ensuing tiebreaker. No surprise: He’s gone 4-0 in those deciding sets over the past two weeks and has won 16 of his last 18 sets.

A year ago, Sinner had a much harder time winning his first Grand Slam, first having to get past Novak Djokovic – who dropped a set in his semi-final against Zverev on Friday due to a torn hamstring -legs – before erasing a two-set deficit. in the final against 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.

Beating Zverev allowed Sinner to become the first man since Nadal at Roland Garros in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating his title of champion of the same tournament a year later.