Under the bright lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night, World No. 1 Jannik Sinner took another confident step toward tennis immortality but not without a brief moment of concern. The 24-year-old Italian overcame a second-set hiccup and an unexplained medical timeout to defeat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open semifinals, booking his spot in a historic final showdown against World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.
It’s the third straight Grand Slam final this season featuring Sinner and Alcaraz - a feat never before achieved in men’s tennis history, according to the ATP. Sunday’s final won’t just decide who lifts the trophy at Flushing Meadows, it will also determine who holds the top spot in the world rankings.
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“It’s a very special day,” Sinner said afterward. “It’s a very amazing final again.”
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The stakes couldn’t be higher, and neither could the quality of tennis expected, especially after Alcaraz’s statement-making straight-sets win over 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic earlier Friday.
Sinner, the defending US Open champion, had his title defense tested by the 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who came into the match riding high after knocking out three seeded players - No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 8 Alex de Minaur, and No. 15 Andrey Rublev.
The Italian started strong, cruising through the first set with surgical precision. But the second set told a different story. Sinner’s unforced errors mounted, and Auger-Aliassime surged, riding his powerful inside-out forehand to a crucial break and later sealing the set with a 117 mph ace. The Canadian took 12 of the last 13 points in the set and looked poised to turn the match in his favor.
Then came a brief but curious twist. Sinner left the court for a medical timeout - the reason for which wasn’t immediately clear. Upon his return, however, he looked none the worse for wear. “Nothing too bad,” Sinner would later say. “Nothing serious.” He declined to elaborate.
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If his health was in question, his tennis certainly wasn’t. Sinner recalibrated in the third set, posting 11 winners to just four unforced errors. He captured the pivotal break with a lunging, off-balance return of a 124 mph serve that somehow clipped the baseline, forcing a netted reply from Auger-Aliassime.
In the fourth, the Italian showed championship grit, saving five early break points and 9 of 10 overall - before breaking serve himself to go up 3-2. From there, he never looked back, closing out the match just 25 minutes later.
It was Sinner’s 33rd win in his last 34 Grand Slam matches, including a flawless 27-0 record on hard courts. He’s now into his fifth consecutive major final, a run that includes wins over Taylor Fritz in last year’s US Open final, Alexander Zverev at this year’s Australian Open, a loss to Alcaraz at the French Open, and a rebound victory over the Spaniard at Wimbledon.
“An amazing season,” Sinner reflected with quiet confidence.
For Auger-Aliassime, the loss ends what was arguably the best Slam run of his career. He was seeking his first major final but instead walks away with valuable experience and the knowledge that he pushed the best player in the world to the brink.
Now, all eyes turn to Sunday. Sinner vs. Alcaraz, Part III - the trilogy that no tennis fan knew they needed, but now can’t get enough of.
And with the No. 1 ranking and the final Slam of the season on the line - plus a crowd that may include former President Donald Trump - this Grand Slam finale is set to be one for the ages.
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