Jannik Sinner showed in the final of Wimbledon why he is the most consistently great player on the ATP tour. His four-set victory against Carlos Alcaraz was a masterclass in not getting too low if things begin to go south in a match. And for Sinner, things rarely go low.
That is even more true on hard courts. After dispatching Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, the ATP No. 1 has now won 25 straight hard-court matches. The streak goes back to the China Open final in early October 2024.
Things began almost too easily for Sinner against the Canadian. He took the first set 6-0, and even two of Auger-Aliassime's service games were not that close. For any opponent to play either Sinner or Alcaraz currently, the player has to feel as if the Italian and the Spaniard are not in their best form.
Jannik Sinner pushes past Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Open
If they are, the rest of the ATP field has little chance. And in the first set of Jannik Sinner's Cincinnati Open match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the Italian was at his absolute brilliant best. It didn't help that Auger-Aliassime was playing horribly. He had zero winners but 13 unforced errors in set one, as well as no aces but five double faults.
This is why the start of the second set was quite the shock. The Canadian got a relatively easy break of Sinner and then held to lead 2-0. The first set was incredibly one-sided, sure, but the match still needed to be won.
No worries for the Italian, however. He held three times and broke the Canadian three straight times to take the set 6-2. Any potential drama was long dismissed. Auger-Aliassime kept not helping himself by having far too many double faults, but he would have had to play perfectly to have any chance to beat Sinner, and he couldn't.
Next for Jannik Sinner in the semifinals will be the winner of the Holger Rune and qualifier Terence Atmane match. Sunner should be the heavy favorite.