Either Jannik Sinner will become the first Italian to win three Grand Slam singles titles, or Alexander Zverev will win his first major.
The Australian Open men’s singles final pits the top two seeds who have quite different resumes.
Sinner, 23, has won 20 consecutive matches at the two hard-court Slams, riding 2024 titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open. He can break his tie with Nicola Pietrangeli for the most major singles titles for an Italian man or woman.
Zverev, 27, reached his third Grand Slam final (with nine semifinals). Every other man in the professional era who combined to make that many finals and semifinals won a Slam in his career.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Women’s Draw
Novak Djokovic’s bid for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam singles title was felled by injury. He retired after losing the first set to Zverev in their semifinal.
In the quarterfinals, Djokovic ended Carlos Alcaraz’s bid to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, though Alcaraz can still achieve the feat at the 2026 Australian Open.
No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz, the U.S. Open runner-up, was upset by 38-year-old Gael Monfils in the third round. Fritz was the highest-seeded American man at a Slam since Andy Roddick was No. 3 at 2007 Wimbledon.
Four of the top 11 seeds (all between the ages of 26 and 28) lost in the first two rounds to players between the ages of 18 and 20: No. 5 Daniil Medvedev to American Learner Tien (19 years old; in five sets, four hours and 49 minutes and ending at 2:54 a.m.); No. 6 Casper Ruud to Czech Jakub Mensik (19); No. 9 Andrey Rublev to Brazil’s Joao Fonseca (18) and No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas to American Alex Michelsen (20).
