Jannik Sinner has continued his Australian Open title defence in fine fashion by defeating Holger Rune in the fourth round.
Aryna Sabalenka has backed Sinner to win the Australian Open, with the ATP number one the top seed in Melbourne.
Sinner thinks he has room to improve, although he has dropped just two sets at the Australian Open so far.
One of those arrived in his three-hour, 13-minute win over Rune, who Sinner defeated 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena.
And not only has it secured him a quarter-final spot at the hard-court Grand Slam, but it has resulted in a handful of fantastic records going his way.
Jannik Sinner emulates John McEnroe with 18th consecutive Grand Slam hard court match win
As per The Tennis Letter, the 23-year-old is now the youngest man to win 18 consecutive Grand Slam hard court matches since John McEnroe in 1981.
Moreover, since the ATP rankings were first published in 1973, the Italian has surpassed Bjorn Borg for the highest win percentage at ATP Tour-level while ranked number one, with 93.6% compared to 91.9%, as per OptaAce.
OptaAce also noted that Sinner is now the fourth player in the last 30 years to reach the quarter-finals for 15 consecutive tour-level events.
It excludes ATP Finals, and unsurprisingly sees the Italian follow in the footsteps of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Holger Rune hits most groundstroke winners in Australian Open loss to Jannik Sinner
Sinner may have perhaps been disappointed to have dropped another set in his Australian Open title pursuit, although he will have no issue with the final outcome.
The world number one has already shared his delight at making it past not only Rune, but medical timeouts and a broken net in a match played in 32 degrees celsius.
He was certainly tested by 13th seed Rune, who remarkably outperformed his opponent for groundstroke winners, with 17 compared to Sinner’s 12.
The Italian (six) also had more double faults than the Dane (four), but did come out on top for win first serve percentage, with 83% compared to Rune’s 66%.
Sinner also impressed with five volley winners to Rune’s one, with the former smashing 14 aces compared to the latter’s five.
The world number one has continued his formidable form on hard courts, and looks almost certain to find himself in another Australian Open final this month.
He has also been aided by the fact that two of his biggest rivals in Carlos Alcaraz and Djokovic will meet in the quarter-finals.
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