Sinner Storms Back To Beat Alcaraz In Miami SF, Ending Spaniard's No. 1 Reign

Jannik Sinner roared back in his budding rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz with a statement semi-final win on Friday night at the Miami Open presented by Itau. The Italian's 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 victory will end Alcaraz's reign atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with Novak Djokovic set to take over as World No. 1 on Monday.

Despite leading early in all three sets, Sinner was on the brink of defeat as he stared down two break points at 3-4 in the second. But the 21-year-old won 19 of 21 points to snatch the set and open up a 2-0 lead in the deciding set, with Alcaraz struggling physically at the start of set three. The Spaniard regrouped to bring up a break point at 3-2, but Sinner fought it off and powered through the finish after three hours of show-stopping tennis of the highest quality.

By levelling their ATP Head2Head series at 3-3, Sinner snapped Alcaraz's 10-match and 21-set winning streaks, denying the Spaniard's bid to achieve the Sunshine Double by following his Indian Wells trophy with a successful Miami title defence.

Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's final, when the Italian will play for his first ATP Masters 1000 title. It is Sinner's second final at the prestigious level, following his 2021 run in Miami, when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz in the title round.

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