Reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner destroyed local hope Alex De Minaur in just 108 minutes.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner dashed home hopes by crushing Alex de Minaur in a straight-sets rout to advance to an Australian Open semi-final against Ben Shelton.
The Italian world number one showed no signs of the illness that hampered him in his last match to emphatically cruise past the eighth seed 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday .
He will meet stubborn American Shelton for a place in Sunday’s final against 10-time champion Novak Djokovic or second seed Alexander Zverev.
Shelton, seeded 21, beat another Italian, unseeded Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) to make Melbourne Park the final four for the first time.
The writing was on the wall for De Minaur, with Sinner having won his previous nine meetings – the Italian had also won his last 20 matches against the Australians.
De Minaur had a glimmer of hope after Sinner battled illness in his last-16 clash, where he admitted he was “not there health-wise” and he had been “sometimes a little dizzy” in the hot weather.
But the Italian showed no evidence of problems on a much cooler quarter-final day, moving freely and showing no discomfort.
In front of a patriotic crowd, he took a 3-1 lead after a grueling 24-shot rally.
The agile Sinner’s big ball strikes proved difficult for the Australian to counter and he struggled to create chances, managing just four winners in the opening set.
The second set followed a similar pattern with Sinner directing De Minaur, pushing him at will and immediately breaking to take control.
He was on a mission and a forehand winner earned him a second break as he headed into the second set in 40 minutes, the Australian shaking his head, wondering what to do.
De Minaur tried everything but had no answer, broken twice in the third set after a series of errors as Sinner won 3-0.
Sinner is attempting to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time after beating Daniil Medvedev in the final last year and is also looking to become the first Italian to win three Grand Slam crowns.
He also won the US Open last year.
