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Second set: Sinner 7-5, 2-0 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
Sinner does what Sinner does on serve, coming through with total dominance. “He looks like he’s playing PlayStation,” marvels Laura Robson. And fancy some stats? Sure you do. That first set was the seventh consecutive set Sinner’s won at this tournament – the 17th if you take in last year’s title triumph too. He’s a set away from his 13th victory over De Minaur in 13 meetings, and his 30th win in a row on an indoor hard court. Only a certain C Alcaraz can come close.
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Sinner breaks: Sinner* 7-5, 1-0 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
To rub salt into De Minaur’s wounds, Sinner starts the second set by winning a point he had absolutely no right to on the Demon’s serve. 0-15. 0-30. 0-40, as Sinner sprints forward and De Minaur lobs long. De Minaur shrugs his shoulders. And is then left in utter disbelief when Sinner somehow slides almost halfway across the baseline on the hard court to pull off perhaps the shot of this match, a backhand winner down the line! Sinner waited 11 games to get the break in the first set; he’s broken in the opening game of the second.
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Sinner wins the first set 7-5
From first serves to second serves to break points to points won, the stats for this set aren’t particularly close. So huge props to De Minaur for his resistance. But it’s fading as Sinner charges to 15-0, 30-0, 40-0, three set points. Sinner concedes the first but a second serve does the business on the second. De Minaur threw everything at the man he’s never beaten in that set and it still wasn’t enough. We know he’s got a huge heart, but is it big enough to put up a similar fight in the second set? I’m not sure.
Alex de Minaur reacts during his semi-final against Jannik Sinner. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/ReutersShare
Updated at 10.04 EST
Sinner breaks: Sinner* 6-5 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
Danger for De Minaur at 30-all. The way Sinner is serving now, if he takes this game, that’s surely the set. Sinner produces a backhand cross-court pass to rival De Minaur’s one from the previous game, and here’s set point break point. De Minaur emerges victorious from a forehand cross-court face-off. Deuce. Advantage Sinner, his seventh break point of the set. De Minaur’s played 56 points on serve to Sinner’s 27, such is the effort the Australian’s having to put in to hold serve. Sinner is still pushing and probing as he brings up an eighth bp, and he sends the Italian crowd into a frenzy when he smites a breathtaking winner down the line!
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First set: Sinner 5-5 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
So Sinner, having been a point away from serving for the set, must now hold serve to stay in it. And De Minaur takes the first point by flicking away a backhand cross-court pass! Credit to the Australian for standing up to Sinner’s power; he’s already won more games in this set than he managed in any of the sets when he lost 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to Sinner in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year. But Sinner doesn’t give De Minaur another look in this game of first serves – Sinner’s first-serve percentage is up at 81% – and Sinner holds to 15.
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First set: Sinner* 4-5 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
De Minaur does his best Sinner impression by sprinting to 40-0; Sinner hauls him back to 40-30. And deuce, when Sinner’s return is too hot for De Minaur to handle. If Sinner breaks here he’ll be serving for the set, which would be the 17th consecutive set he’s won at this event, if you take in last year too. But I’m getting ahead of myself, because De Minaur gets to advantage, before sliding and slipping – both literally and metaphorically – and it’s deuce again. Advantage Sinner, as De Minaur blazes a backhand into the tramlines after a lengthy duel. De Minaur saves the break point with a fiery one-two punch. Ooof, take that, Jannik. I wonder if the five break points are starting to prey on his mind. He doesn’t get another in this game, because De Minaur once again, somehow, edges ahead.
Alex de Minaur stretches to make a backhand return to Jannik Sinner. Photograph: Antonio Calanni/APShare
Updated at 09.40 EST
First set: Sinner 4-4 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
Sinner puts the disappointment of those missed break points out of his mind by surging to 30-0, again hitting a forehand right into the corner before finishing things off at the net. Sinner is definitely striking the ball better than his opponent now, and he puts the pressure straight back on De Minaur’s serve by holding to love for the first time. A stat that illustrates how much harder De Minaur is having to work to hold: Sinner’s service games are lasting on average three minutes; De Minaur’s are taking five and a half.
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First set: Sinner* 3-4 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
Sinner decides the time to strike is now, getting to 15-all by painting the line (De Minaur appeals to HawkEye in vain) and then 15-30 by ripping a winner when De Minaur’s shot sits up invitingly after clipping the tape. De Minaur reverts to type on next point, showing superb defence as he scampers left and right and left and right and left and right, sends up a high ball … and Sinner smashes long! 30-all. It should really be 15-40. But it’s soon 30-40 instead. A third break point of the match for Sinner. And Sinner smacks into the net! Deuce. Advantage Sinner, with another backhand winner for the showreel. Deuce. Advantage De Minaur. Deuce, as Sinner backs up a deep forehand with a winning volley. Advantage De Minaur. And somehow De Minaur survives.
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First set: Sinner 3-3 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
Sinner decides to mix things up a bit and serve-volleys. 30-15. Which is very soon 40-15, as De Minaur isn’t getting that serve back. Nor the next. A third successive hold to 15 in this match. But while De Minaur is playing near his best to stay with Sinner, you feel Sinner will step it up a level when he needs to, come the business end of this set.
Jannik Sinner bashes a return to Alex de Minaur from behind the baseline. Photograph: Antonio Calanni/APShare
Updated at 09.15 EST
First set: Sinner* 2-3 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
But just as Sinner seems to be getting his eye in, De Minaur hurtles to 40-0 himself. You can’t criticise the Australian for not going for it here. Determined not to be overpowered by one of best in a big match yet again, he’s taking it to the world No 2 and holds to 15.
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First set: Sinner 2-2 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
15-0, 30-0, 40-0, courtesy of a drilled backhand winner down the line. Maybe that’ll get Sinner going. He then sticks his backhand into the net, before rounding things off to 15 by pouncing on the short ball and walloping a forehand winner.
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Updated at 09.11 EST
First set: Sinner* 1-2 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
De Minaur is playing flat and fast so far, but can he do that consistently, or will the errors become too frequent? It’s the right strategy, but so hard to maintain against a player as relentless as Sinner. The Australian accelerates to 30-15, then 40-30 with his sixth winner. Sinner? He’s hit only one so far. Not a stat I thought I’d type before this match started. De Minaur biffs into the net for deuce, but takes two fuss-free points from there to serve out the game. The first game in which there hasn’t been a break point.
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First set: Sinner 1-1 De Minaur* (*denotes next server)
Ooohs and aaaahs from the crowd on a lovely first point, with slicing and dicing and drop shots and lobs and eventually a De Minaur winner, which lands bang on the baseline. Even the Italians are applauding the Australian. “Just another 80 of those will do,” quips Laura Robson on commentary. And look, look: 0-15 morphs into 0-30 and 0-40. Sinner hasn’t been broken this week at all. He fends off the first bp with an unreturned serve; De Minaur slaps into the net on the second. Another snarling serve and it’s deuce. Then advantage Sinner and game. Sinner maintains his perfect record.
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First set: Sinner* 0-1 De Minaur (*denotes next server)
Sinner claims the first victory of the day as he wins the toss. As if he needs any extra help. The world No 2 elects to receive and swiftly advances to 15-30. The pair trade cross-court forehand after cross-court forehand … and De Minaur nets for 15-40. His fiancee, British player Katie Boulter, is already hanging her head in the stands. But De Minaur saves the first break point with a forehand winner, and he’s always in control of the second break point, and he finishes things off when he advances to the net and Sinner buckles under the pressure. Deuce. Advantage De Minaur. Deuce. Advantage De Minaur. Deuce. Advantage De Minaur. Game De Minaur. But already the challenge facing De Minaur this afternoon has been underlined.
Alex de Minaur smashes a serve to Jannik Sinner. Photograph: Antonio Calanni/APShare
Updated at 09.03 EST
Henman’s game plan for De Minaur is to have a high percentage of first serves, take risks, finish some points at the net, play the match of his life and hope Sinner has an off-day. So Tim’s not asking for much then …
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The stands are teeming with orange wigs, Italian flags and the obligatory die-hard carrots as Sinner makes his entrance, a minute or so after De Minaur. De Minaur does, at least, already have experience of being the villain in the eyes of this Italian crowd, having played Lorenzo Musetti in the group stage. He suffered a heartbreaking defeat then, blowing a 5-3 lead in the third set, but his gutsy win over Taylor Fritz secured his place in the last four by the narrowest of margins: just one game.
Jannik Sinner arrives on court ahead of his semi-final against Alex de Minaur. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesSinner (right) and de Minaur (left) pose for a photograph ahead of their semi-final. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.50 EST
Tim Henman’s been speaking to Sinner. “He was in a very tough place a couple of days ago,” Sinner says of De Minaur losing his opening two matches, “but then he had one of his best wins of the year [against Taylor Fritz]. I have to be careful. He doesn’t have anything to lose. I have a lot to lose.”
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Sky Sports are currently crunching the numbers of the Sinner v De Minaur head-to-head. They can’t even list all of Sinner’s 12 victories on the screen, but it still puts into sharp focus the task facing De Minaur this afternoon. He’s facing not only his nemesis, the defending champion who hasn’t dropped a set this week, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon winner, but also the 12,000-strong pro-Sinner crowd. So is there any way De Minaur can come through this? Erm, probably only by playing the match of his life. And even if he does that, his big heart and endless running likely won’t be enough to counter Sinner’s destructive power and relentless precision.
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Already today in the doubles, Britain’s Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara have taken out the home favourites Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the final for the first time. Last year’s Wimbledon winners could face the reigning Wimbledon champions tomorrow, because Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool play in tonight’s semi, which is an all-British affair with Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. So it’s guaranteed that three of the four finalists will be British.
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And one that definitely won’t get De Minaur in the mood:
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To get you in the mood:
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Preamble
All roads in Turin seem to be leading to a Carlos Alcaraz v Jannik Sinner final and the latest chapter in what’s already becoming one of tennis’s greatest rivalries, just as all roads at every event they’ve both entered this year have led to another title for the Sincaraz collection.
The numbers that sum up their supremacy are ubiquitous: they’ve faced each other in the past three grand slam finals (the escape from Alcaraz in that French Open final the pick of the lot), won a combined 13 tournaments in 2025 and shared the past eight major titles between them. But one eye-catching stat has been less told: Alexander Zverev, the world No 3, is closer in ranking points to the world No 1000 than he is to Sinner, the No 2. No one can get near them. The chasing pack aren’t in the same universe, even though they’re playing the same sport.
So where does this leave Alex De Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime today? At least Auger-Aliassime knows what it’s like to beat Alcaraz, having done so in three of their seven meetings, though the last of those wins was in 2022, when Alcaraz was still working on becoming a smiling assassin. But De Minaur has lost to Sinner in all 12 of their previous matches. The Demon said he’d banished his demons after defeating Taylor Fritz for his first ever win at the ATP Finals on Thursday, but how can he not be haunted by his record against the Italian going into their semi-final? Clutching at the positives for the Australian, at least he’s got nothing to lose. Sinner, in front of his home crowd, is expected to win with ease – that’s the pressure that being the defending champion, with 29 victories in a row on indoor hard courts, brings.
Sinner and De Minaur are first up at 2.30pm local time/1.30pm GMT, with Alcaraz and Auger-Aliassime to come at 8.30pm/7.30pm. I’ll be here for both matches, so let’s hope I’m still standing by the end; barring the tennis world being knocked off its axis before then, Sinner and Alcaraz will be too.
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Updated at 08.13 EST
