Australian Open: Champion Sinner delighted after Zverev comparison to idol Djokovic

World number one Sinner dispatched Zverev 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in Sunday's final at Melbourne Park, defending his crown at the first major of the year.

He is just the fifth man to win three straight hard-court slams in the Open Era, after John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and the youngest to do so since the Australian Open moved to hard court in 1988 (23 years, 163 days).

Zverev likened the world's best player to "prime" Djokovic, who holds the record for the most men's major titles (24), and Sinner concurred with aspects of that comparison.

"Well, it's an amazing compliment from Sascha," Sinner said after securing back-to-back titles in Melbourne. "I think everyone is different in a way.

"Obviously, I have some similarities with Novak's game style. I still believe when Novak plays at his best, it's very, very, very tough to beat him.

"But game style-wise, I looked up to him, trying to understand what he's doing, how he handles the pressure moments and important moments.

"I still believe we are different as players because everyone is different, but for sure we have similarities.

"The similarities are having a quite clean ball striking from the baseline, having a good movement, understanding a little bit where your opponent plays the ball.

"I aim to improve as a player because I feel like I still can improve in certain areas, and that's where we are going to work on. That's it."

Sinner did not face a single break point en route to winning the final, while also winning 84% of points on his first serve (48/57).

"It was an amazing performance from my side," the 23-year-old added. "I felt like I was in the beginning of the match serving really well and trying to get into the zone very fast.

"It was a very high-quality [performance] from my side. The second set, got a bit lucky in the tiebreak, as we saw. All things considered, amazing run again here in Australia. I'm extremely happy."

Sinner is also the first player to claim 10 consecutive straight sets wins over ATP top 10 opponents since the rankings were published in 1973.

He came flying out the blocks, not giving Zverev any chance to settle as the German lost in a third successive grand slam final.

"I felt like how I entered the court trying to be quite aggressive in the beginning, this gave me then the confidence that I feel the ball in a certain way," he continued.

"Yeah, when you get up one set, this gives you the confidence. As I said, I had the chances in the second set with couple of break points. He always served very well there.