By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Defending champion Jannik Sinner (Italy) and top seed Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) inched closer to set the consecutive fourth grand slam men’s singles final clash after storming into the semifinals of the Australian Open.
In case both the players reach the final, it will be the first time in the history of the Grand Slams that the two top seeds would meet in the final for a record fourth time in a row. They have met in all the three Grand Slams finals since the French Open in May last year. Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last eight Grand Slam titles, which includes playing three consecutive major finals against each other last year which include French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
While Sinner will meet fourth seed Novak Djokovic (Serbia) in the first semi-final on Friday, Alcaraz has already set a clash with Alexander Zverev (Germany) in the other semi-final.
This is also the first time since 2013 that all the top four seeds have reached semifinals in the Australian Open.
In the first quarter final played at Rod Laver arena, Djokovic got a walkover over Lorenzo Musetti (Italy) when he was two sets down. Musetti later said he felt severe thigh pain which almost immobilized him in the third set. “He (Musetti) was a far better player, I was on my way home,” Djokovic admitted. The Italian was forced to retire when he was leading 6-4, 6-3, 1-3 in the quarter final clash against Djokovic.
In the other quarter-final, Sinner outplayed Ben Shelton (US) in straight sets 6-3,6-4,6-4. This was Sinner’s 19th straight victory in Melbourne.
If Alcaraz lifts the trophy on Sunday, he will become the youngest man ever to win all four Grand Slams, surpassing Rafael Nadal’s record. Nadal was 24 when he did it.