The Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz rivalry will continue in a third consecutive Grand Slam final.
The top two seeds won their semifinal matches on Friday at the U.S. Open in New York.
Sinner, the No. 1 seed and defending champion, beat No. 25 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, after Alcaraz trounced No. 7 Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spanish star, edged Sinner in a five-set final at the French Open before Sinner, a 24-year-old Italian, topped Alcaraz in four sets in the Wimbledon final.
The pair will become the first players to meet in three Grand Slam finals during the same year in the Open Era (since 1968). The champion will also emerge ranked No. 1 in the world.
Sinner is seeking his fifth major title and his third of the year, having opened the season by claiming the Australian Open. He is the youngest player in the Open Era to reach all four major finals in a calendar year, with the only others to do it being Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Djokovic.
“Amazing season, obviously,” Sinner said. “Grand Slams are the most important tournaments we have throughout the year, and finding myself in another final year, especially the last one of the season with an amazing crowd … I doesn’t get any better.”
Against Auger-Aliassime, Sinner saved nine of the 10 break points he faced. The Canadian had slightly more winners than the Italian (36-33) but committed significantly more unforced errors (41-22).
Alcaraz is hunting his sixth Grand Slam title. He is 45-2 in his past 47 matches overall.
Over the course of 2 hours, 25 minutes, Alcaraz outperformed Djokovic by winning 42 of his 50 first-service points (84 percent), including seven aces. He dropped only one service game — just the second time his serve has been broken all tournament.
“It’s a great feeling. Once again in the final here at the U.S. Open, it feels amazing,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
Alcaraz won the 2022 U.S. Open and reached the semifinals the following year before a surprising second-set exit in 2024.
“Today, I’d say — it wasn’t the best level of the tournament for me, but I just kept a good level from the beginning until the last point,” Alcaraz said. “I served pretty well, I think that was really, really important. Trying to play a really physical match and I think I did it. In general, I played really good tennis and I’m just really happy to be able to play in my second final here.”
Djokovic, 38, will finish without a Grand Slam title for the second year in a row. The record 24-time major winner advanced to the semifinals at all four Slams this year, but did not reach a final.
He allowed it is going to continue to be hard to be the last man standing in Grand Slam tournaments with stars like Alcaraz and Sinner.
“I still want to play the Grand Slam season next year,” Djokovic said. “Let’s see whether that’s gonna happen or not … but I do fancy my chances more in best-of-three one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments where you could have a few days between matches. That could serve me better in the matchups against them.”
Djokovic broke Alcaraz’s serve in the second game of the second set en route to a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz ripped off the next three games with ease and they held serve all the way to a second-set tiebreaker, which Alcaraz won thanks to a 4-1 head start.
Alcaraz broke Djokovic for a 3-1 lead in the third set, at which point the eventual outcome was no longer in question.
Alcaraz holds a 9-5 career edge against Sinner, including a victory in their most recent matchup, in the final at Cincinnati last month.
Reflecting back on a five-set loss to Alcaraz in the 2022 U.S. Open quarterfinals, Sinner said, “I feel like our rivalry started here, playing an amazing match. We are two different players now, different confidence, too. So let’s see what’s coming. We’ve played quite a lot this year, so we know each other very well. Let’s see who’s preparing in the best possible way. … I’m very (much) looking forward to it.”
–Field Level Media
