Italian Jannik Sinner defeated compatriot Lorenzo Musetti6-1, 6-4, 6-2, and is on the verge of advancing to another US Open final.
Sinner, who is defending his title in New York, took two hours to see off Musetti in the quarter-finals.
On Friday, he will play his fifth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal; in the previous four, Sinner reached the final.
It was a great performance, very solid, especially considering how I started the match
The Italian will face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number 27, in that semifinal.
The other semi-final will be between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
Musetti, Sinner’s Davis Cup teammate, said before taking to the court that tonight he wanted to “surprise everyone”. He did not succeed.
Djokovic: “I’m going to try to spoil the final between Sinner and Alcaraz that everyone expects”
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz’s opponent in the semi-finals, made it clear after beating Taylor Fritz that he will do everything possible to avoid a US Open final between Carlitos and Jannik Sinner.
“Everyone is waiting for a final between Sinner and Carlos. I’m going to try to spoil most people’s plans. Both Alcaraz and Sinner are playing their best tennis here and have been the big dominators since the start of the tournament. But I’m not going to go out on court with a white flag,” said the Serb.
This was Sinner’s triumph over Musetti in the US Open quarterfinals: Jannik showed an impregnable serve
Sinner went through the first set like a hurricane. He went 5-0 up with two breaks and took the set on serve 6-1. Musetti only got 44% of his first serves in, won five first serve points and two second serve points, impossible numbers to trouble Sinner.
Once the nerves had passed, Musetti stepped up in the second set, with more confidence in his game. But Sinner responded with an impenetrable serve, with 95% of first serve points.
With 4-4 on the return and 15-15, the Italian launched a cross-court backhand up to the net that made it clear that the set was going to be his. Two points later, Musetti handed over the game with a double fault. On serve, Sinner took the second set 6-4.
After opening the third set with a break against Musetti, Sinner faced the toughest game of the match: four break points against him, saved one after the other until he held serve. The stadium emptied after that game.
Musetti defended two of his games, but Sinner, with another break, closed the set 6-2.
Sinner ended up saving all seven break points he faced in the match. He also converted five of the six he had in his favor and finished with 91% of first serve points.
“It was a great performance, very solid, especially how I started the match,” Sinner said in his on-court interview after sealing his victory.
This is how Jannik Sinner sees the US Open semi-final matchups
The Italian spoke about the semi-final line-up, which includes Alcaraz, Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime: “Every player who reaches a Grand Slam semi-final is because they are playing incredible tennis.”
Any player who reaches the semifinals of a Grand Slam is because he is playing incredible tennis
Wednesday’s victory was Sinner’s 26th consecutive victory on fast ‘Grand Slam’ courts, having won the last two editions of the Australian Open and the last one in New York.
In addition to the title, Sinner is also defending the ATP No. 1 ranking, which is threatened by Carlos Alcaraz. The Italian must better the Spaniard’s result, who is also in the semi-finals, to hold on to the lead in the rankings
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