There will be two players defending their U.S. Open titles this weekend.
Jannik Sinner joined fellow World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in advancing to a second consecutive U.S. Open final Friday night, after the Italian defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 24-year-old has now reached the title match in every single Grand Slam this year.
Topping the brackets at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Sinner’s only loss came against his next opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, in an epic Roland Garros final.
There aren’t many men on the tour who own a winning record against Sinner, but Auger-Aliassime had won two of their previous three meetings.
The two victories, however, dated back to 2022.
Sinner destroyed the Canadian in straight sets in their last meeting — a 6-0, 6-2 win in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati last month — but Auger-Aliassime didn’t go as easily this time around.
Sinner made quick work of the first set, taking the first three straight games before finishing it in just 43 minutes.
The second set, however, saw a tremendous effort from Auger-Aliassime to knot the match at one set apiece.
Blasting 11 winners against a mere four unforced errors, Auger-Aliassime began pounding the ball against Sinner and riding the encouragement from the crowd.
Sinner could only registered three winners against 11 unforced errors in the second set.
It counted as just the second set Sinner has lost so far this tournament.
After calling over the physician between the second and third set, Sinner set himself up to take the match in the fourth.
He saved two break points to hold in the second game for 1-1 before saving three in the fourth for 2-2.
Once he broke Auger-Aliassime to go up 3-2, Sinner powered through the remainder of the match.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
