Fixture: (4) Jannik Sinner vs (3) Daniil Medvedev
Date: January 28, 2024
Tournament: Australian Open 2024
Round: Final
Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
Category: Grand Slam
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: A$86,500,00
Live telecast: USA - ESPN & Tennis Channel | UK - Eurosport | India - Sony Sports & Sony Liv | Canada - TSN & RDS
Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev preview
Fourth seed Jannik Sinner takes on third seed Daniil Medvedev in an unlikely final to determine the 2024 Australian Open men's singles champion.
World No. 4 Sinner started off like a house on fire against defending champion Novak Djokovic in the first semifinal. The Italian found himself two sets to the good, dropping just three games.
In a tighter third set, Djokovic squandered a 4-2 lead in the ensuing tiebreak before saving a match point on serve to reduce arrears. However, the 10-time Australian Open champion couldn't ride his momentum, with a lone break of serve proving enough for Sinner to clinch the win in the fourth and book a place in his first Grand Slam final.
The 22-year-old has had a near-perfect fortnight, only dropping one set en route to the biggest match of his career. Sinner saw off Botic van de Zandschulp, Jesper de Jong, Sebastian Baez, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev before beating Djokovic to improve to 6-0 for the season.
Meanwhile, the third-ranked Medvedev reprised his Iron Man avatar again against a familiar foe, the in-form Alexander Zverev. Down 7-5, 6-3, the 27-year-old Russian was two points away from defeat at 5-5 in the fourth-set tiebreak after taking the third in a tiebreak.
A lucky net cord went Medvedev's way, giving him a set point, which he duly converted to force a decider. Zverev finally cracked in the fifth game, and that was all the 2021 US Open champion needed to serve out victory in four hours and 18 minutes.
Earlier this fortnight, the former World No. 1 saw off Terence Atmane, Emil Ruusuvuori, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Nuno Borges and Hubert Hurkacz. Medvedev dropped at least a set in all the matches except against Auger-Aliassime, needing five sets to see off Ruusuvuori and Hurkacz.
He's into his sixth Grand Slam final and his third at the Australian Open, also improving to 6-0 on the season.
Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev head-to-head
Sinner has won only three of his nine meetings with Medvedev, but the Italian has taken the last three clashes, two of them being finals, all in 2023. That includes their latest clash in the ATP Finals semifinal in three sets.
Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev odds
The odds will be updated when they release.
Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev prediction
Sinner and Medvedev are two of the best players on tour and have very few loopholes in their games.
The Italian, widely regarded as a generational talent, has continued to build on his career-best 2023 season, reaching his first Grand Slam final dropping just one set. Medvedev, meanwhile, has taken the more circuitous route, playing a whopping 26 sets, twice recovering from two sets down.
A returner par excellence, Medvedev played better as his battle with Zverev went on, firing 22 more winners than he did in the first two, while his first-serve percentage bumped up to 71% in the decider.
Sinner, meanwhile, is coming off a superb win over Djokovic, who leaked 54 unforced errors, with the Italian firing 31 winners. He's looking to become the first Italian man in more than four decades to win a Grand Slam singles title.
While Medvedev has had Sinner's number in the past, the Italian is clearly the more in-form and less fatigued player, so expect him to clinch a hard-fought win on Sunday.
Pick: Sinner in four sets.