JANNIK SINNER staged a brilliant fightback from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev and win his first grand slam title at the Australian Open today.

The 22-year-old Italian handed Novak Djokovic his first loss at Melbourne Park for six years in the semi-finals but looked like he would have to settle for the runners-up plate as Medvedev dominated the first half of the match.

Sinner was not finished, though, and he slowly began to take control with his huge groundstrokes, opening his grand slam account in stunning fashion with a 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 victory.

Earmarked as the man most likely to lead the game into its next era alongside Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner has decisively proved that he can be a force for years to come.

For Medvedev, though, this is a crushing blow, with the Russian now having won only one of six grand slam finals – at the US Open in 2021 – while this is the second time in three years he has led by two sets to love here only to lose.

The first of those came against Rafael Nadal in 2022 but, even without the Spaniard or Djokovic across the net in a final for the first time, he still could not claim the trophy.

It had been a tortuous path to get here for Medvedev, who recovered from two sets down to win against Emil Ruusuvuori at 3.39am in round two and Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, while also needing five sets to defeat Hubert Hurkacz in the last eight, spending more than 20 hours on court.

It had been almost 20 years since an Australian Open final did not feature one of Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer.

On Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka completed a ruthless defence of her Australian Open title by beating first-timer Zheng Qinwen in the final.

The world number two lifted her first grand-slam trophy at Melbourne Park 12 months ago and has been untouchable this fortnight.

She did not drop a set in seven matches and defeated Zheng 6-3 6-2 to become the first player since countrywoman Victoria Azarenka 11 years ago to claim back-to-back titles.

Zheng, who had not had to face a top-50 player through the first six rounds, had hoped to emulate the watching Li Na and claim the title for China a decade on.

But the 21-year-old, the 12th first-time slam finalist in the women’s game in the last three years, was up against it from the start and Sabalenka wrapped up victory in only 76 minutes despite a brief disruption from pro-Palestine protesters.