China Open: Sinner moves into final, sets up clash with Alcaraz

Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, advanced to the final of the China Open by winning against Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete 6-3, 7-6 (3) at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing on Tuesday.

Afterwards, the world No 1 paid tribute to the occasion, saying: “I was actually quite surprised how fair the crowd was. It was a very fair crowd. It was a great atmosphere. Was a packed stadium. It was a pleasure to play there, to be honest, to be part of the match.

“I felt like the match, it was going to get very tight in the second set. That’s exactly what people wanted to see. They want to see a great match.”

He is now on a 15-match winning streak.

Sinner, ranked No 1, will play Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, next as they meet for the tenth time on tour. Alcaraz edges their head-to-head 5-4 currently – but Sinner won their other meeting in Beijing, winning in straight sets in last year’s semi-final.

The Italian defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry (4-6, 6-3, 6-1), Russian lucky loser Roman Safiullin (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) and Jiri Lehecka (6-2, 7-6 (6)) in the previous rounds of the Beijing tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Bu, ranked No 96, won against Juncheng Shang (6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4), Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 6 seed (6-2, 6-4) and Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 4 seed (7-5, 6-4).

You might also like this

Navratilova lashes out against WADA’s appeal in Sinner’s doping case

tennis majors

Sinner recalls “sleepless nights” during ITIA probe into doping case after WADA’s appeal

tennis majors

Beijing ATP 500, other semi-final result (Olympic Green Tennis Center, hard, USD 3.720.165):

• Carlos Alcaraz beat Daniil Medvedev (3): 7-5, 6-3