Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev in 3 sets for second consecutive Australian Open tennis title

A dominant 23-year-old Jannik Sinner outplayed and frustrated German Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to win a second consecutive Australian Open tennis championship.

The Italian did not face any break points in Sunday's final.

Sinner has held the No. 1 spot since last June and is not showing any signs of relinquishing it. This was the first Australian Open final between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal — also in straight sets.

“It's amazing,” Sinner said, “to achieve these things.”

The "things" include being the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93, and the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later.

Sinner, at the trophy ceremony, was asked later whether he felt more relief or excitement when he raised his arms after the last point was his.

“This one was joy. We managed to do something incredible this time, because the situation I was in was completely different from a year ago here,” he said. “I had more pressure.”

While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 US Open and last year's French Open.

Those earlier setbacks both came in five sets. This contest was not that close. Not at all.

“I’ll keep doing everything I can,” Zverev said, “to lift one of those trophies.”

Just before Zverev began speaking into a microphone during the trophy ceremony, a voice cried out from the stands, making reference to two of the player’s ex-girlfriends who accused him of physical abuse.

During the match, there truly was only one moment that contained a hint of tension. It came when Zverev was two points from owning the second set at 5-4, love-30. But a break point — and a set point — never arrived.

A year ago, Sinner went through a lot more trouble to earn his first major, needing to get past Novak Djokovic — who quit one set into his semifinal against Zverev on Friday because of a torn hamstring — before erasing a two-set deficit in the final against 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.

This time, Sinner applied pressure with an all-around style that does not really appear to have holes.

He proved superior in every meaningful way other than aces, leaving Zverev shaking his head or trudging to the sideline with shoulders sagging or cracking his racket against the court or against another racket.

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