Over the last two seasons, Jannik Sinner has made a habit of dismantling everyone not named Carlos Alcaraz on a tennis court. That continued on Wednesday night in the US Open quarterfinals as Sinner crushed his countryman and No. 10 seed Lorenzo Musetti in a routine 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Sinner has now reached the semifinals at all four majors this season and at seven of his last eight Grand Slams, which puts him in some pretty elite company as the top-ranked player in the world. He is the fourth No. 1 ranked player since 1973 to reach all four semifinals at the majors in one season, joining Ivan Lendl, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, according to OptaAce.
“Since 1973, Jannik Sinner is just the fourth ATP #1 to reach all four Men’s Singles SFs in a season at GS events after Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – Sinner is the youngest of the four to achieve the feat,” OptaAce wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Sinner has cruised through the tournament so far, dropping just one set against Denis Shapovalov in the third round. However, he has put together his two best performances in his two most recent matches against No. 23 seed Alexander Bublik and Musetti, losing just 10 games across six sets.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Musetti in this matchup, especially on a hard court. He is unable to generate free points on his serve, forcing him to beat the world's best baseliner in a number of rallies from the back of the court. Musetti's one-handed backhand is also an easy target for Sinner in the baseline exchanges, and that played out throughout the night.
Sinner will play against No. 25 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semifinals on Friday night with a spot on the final Sunday on the line. Auger-Aliassime is playing some of the best tennis of his career at this tournament, so he is a dangerous opponent for the Italian.
In fact, Auger-Aliassime actually leads the head-to-head series over Sinner 2-1, but both wins for the Canadian came back in 2022. Sinner crushed the 25-year old 6-0, 6-2 in Cincinnati just before the US Open.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will battle in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon, and the winners will square off on Sunday in the final of the year's last major. Sinner will enter as a favorite after winning the title last year and taking home the trophy at the last three hardcourt majors, but he has a lot of hard work left in front of him to get there.
