Key events
Preamble
Here we go then: the second blockbuster men’s semi-final inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, defending champion Jannik Sinner against a resurgent Félix Auger-Aliassime. The world No 1 arrives as the clear favorite and the form line is brutal: Sinner is riding a 26-match winning streak at hard-court majors and has dropped only one set all fortnight – to Denis Shapovalov in the third round – before flattening Lorenzo Musetti in straights on Wednesday. He’s chasing a fifth successive grand slam final appearance after lifting the Australian Open and Wimbledon trophies this year and coming within a point of the Roland Garros crown against Carlos Alcaraz. Win tonight and the 24-year-old also ticks off a couple of milestones: a 300th career win and, at this age, the youngest in the Open era to reach all four major finals in a single season.
If the narrative sounds inevitable, Auger-Aliassime is here to muck it up. The Canadian’s last four years at the slams have been lean – six straight major entries without reaching the third round – but this run has looked and felt different. He’s rediscovered the first-strike clarity that powered him to the 2021 US Open semis, bundling out the No 3 seed Alexander Zverev and the No 15 Andrey Rublev before outlasting the No 8 Alex de Minaur in a four-set scrap that featured two tiebreaks and a lot of grit. He’s 8-0 in breakers since Cincinnati, 6-0 this week, and he’s already vaulted back towards the top 20. Only one Canadian man has ever made a major final (Milos Raonic at Wimbledon 2016); FAA can match that tonight.
Head-to-head, there’s just enough history to suggest this won’t be one-way traffic. Auger-Aliassime actually leads 2-1, one of the few active players with a winning record over Sinner, thanks to Madrid clay and Cincinnati hard-court wins back in 2022. But their most recent meeting three weeks ago was a rout: a 6-0, 6-2 rout by Sinner in the Cincy quarters, a reminder of how far the Italian’s physicality, movement and serve have come. “He’s improved a lot,” Auger-Aliassime said of Sinner. “Physicality, movement got much better, stronger physically, the serve, the forehand more precise. The backhand was always consistent, the return was always good, deep. I need to play at a high level.” No argument there.
Sinner’s own assessment of where he is right now sounded measured rather than messianic. “These are very special occasions. Finding myself again in the semis of a grand slam, it’s a great, great achievement,” he told reporters this week. “I really like playing best-of-five. I know my body a little bit better, so I’m very happy and pleased to be again in the semis.” He’s 67-1 on hard courts against opponents ranked outside the top three since the start of 2024 and 79-1 against those outside the top 20 since last year’s US Open – numbers that explain the aura.
There’s also the broader arc to consider. If Sinner advances, we get a third Sinner-Alcaraz major final of 2025 – after Paris and Wimbledon – something no men’s duo have managed in a single season in the Open era since Emerson-Stolle in 1964. It would complete an unprecedented clean sweep of No 1 v No 2 finals across all four slams and send the winner out of New York still perched on top of the rankings. If Auger-Aliassime breaks serve on the story, it’s the upset of the tournament and a landmark moment for Canadian tennis.
The official start time is listed at not before 7.22pm local time, so we should be under way in about a half hour. Alcaraz awaits waits on Sunday at 2pm. Your emails and thoughts welcome as ever. Let’s do this.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look back at Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Novak Djokovic in today’s first men’s semi-final.
