Jan 24, 2025; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Jannik Sinner of Italy and Ben Shelton of United States of America shake hands after their match in the semifinals of the men's singles at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

tennis

Jannik Sinner Powers Past Ben Shelton to Remain Undefeated in Nitto ATP Finals 2025 Group Stage

Potential dream final against Alcaraz still on the cards.

After winning his opening two fixtures without dropping a set, Jannik Sinner continued his fine form at the Nitto ATP Finals 2025 on Friday. The 24-year-old Italian made the most of his home advantage and completed a nervy 6-3 7-6(3) win over Ben Shelton to enter the semifinals with momentum in his favor. Sinner is set to face Alex de Minaur for a spot in Sunday’s title clash.

The match also drew an end to Shelton’s fine season. The American southpaw won his maiden Masters-1000 crown at the National Bank Open in Toronto, reached the final in Munich, and was the semifinalist at three other events including the Australian Open. He finishes with a record of 40-24, and rated his 2025 campaign an 8/10 during a recent interview.

Jannik Sinner has won 29 consecutive matches on indoor hard courts.

He ties Roger Federer for the 5th longest win streak on indoor hard courts of all-time.

McEnroe – 47

Djokovic – 35

Federer – 33

Lendl – 32

𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, Federer – 29

Sampras – 25

Edberg – 21

The last… pic.twitter.com/t934ZfwlLc
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 14, 2025

For Sinner, a 29th consecutive indoor hard court victory extended his swashbuckling run so far. Having already topped the Bjorn Borg Group with high quality performances against Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Sinner followed arch rival Carlos Alcaraz by making it three out of three. Speaking of Alcaraz, the World No. 2 will be hoping to earn redemption for losing the year-end top ranking to the Spaniard by retaining his championship in Turin this week.

Jannik Sinner Overcomes Minor Blips to Beat Shelton in Straight Sets

In their fourth meeting of the year, it was Sinner who got off to a commanding start. He took full advantage of the fact that his 23-year-old opponent hadn’t settled into a solid rhythm. Whenever the two players engaged in a baseline duel, it was the four-time Grand Slam champion who came out on top. Soon enough, Sinner took the opener 6-3 with a flawless set on serve. But things were about to get tricky.

Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz high-fiving before Jannik’s match against Ben Shelton in Turin.

“Bravo” ❤️

(via @LinaShokh)

pic.twitter.com/0BnBki1Sda
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 14, 2025

There was a slight tipping of the scales in favor of the American in the second set. He began hitting his spots more often, and dropped just 2 out of 18 service points throughout the first nine games. Down 4-5 however, Shelton had to save a match point to take the set into a tiebreaker. Just when it seemed like a tight affair, Sinner unleashed a flurry of attacks and finished the points off at the net.

“I think when you come here and win all three round robin matches, you have to play some great tennis,” said the reigning Wimbledon champ. He has improved his head-to-head against Shelton to 8-1 after this success. “I felt like serving very well in important moments brought me to this point. Again, it was a truly special day playing in front of the home crowd.”

Previewing his upcoming tussle against de Minaur, Sinner said that he must remain focused as the Australian ‘doesn’t have a lot to lose’. Tune in on Saturday to find out if Sinner can enter yet another summit clash at the Nitto ATP Finals.

(Image Credits: Mike Frey, Imagn Images)

Alex de Minaur

ATP

Ben Shelton

Carlos Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner

Nitto ATP Finals

Tennis

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.