NEWS-FINANCE -QUOTE-EDUCATIONAL AND MOTIVATIONAL
Key events
First set: *Sinner 3-1 Auger-Ali***ime (*denotes next server)
Auger-Ali***ime gets off to a positive start in his second service game, hitting an overhand winner followed by a booming 125mph ace for game point. But the pressure is on again at deuce after Sinner pounds a gorgeous backhand winner down the line before Auger-Ali***ime makes another error off the forehand in a 12-shot rally. From there he responds nicely, winning two quick points to escape with the hold and get on the board.
First set: Sinner 3-0 Auger-Ali***ime* (*denotes next server)
A glimmer of a chance for Auger-Ali***ime, who goes ahead love-15 on Sinner’s serve after capping a 10-shot rally with a backhand volley winner. But the Italian rattles off four quick points from there, punctuating the hold with a 112mph ace.
Sinner breaks in second game of first set!
First set: *Sinner 2-0 Auger-Ali***ime (*denotes next server)
The Ashe crowd swells behind Auger-Ali***ime as he takes his position on the baseline to serve. They want to see a good match and they’re clearly behind the underdog. An inauspiciou start as Auger-Ali***ime opens with a double fault. He then is forced into the error off the forehand side for love-30. After winning a short point to get on the board, the Canadian overheats a forehand from the baseline at the end of a 12-stroke rally for 15-40. A pair of early break-point chances for Sinner. The Italian wastes the first after blinking first in a 15-shot rally, then Auger-Ali***ime erases the seconde with a 122mph ace out wide. Another unforced error from the baseline by Auger-Ali***ime gives Sinner a third look at a break and this time he converts it when Auger-Ali***ime sends a backhand into the netcord. A rough start for FAA, who got five first serves in including an ace but was still broken.
First set: Sinner 1-0 Auger-Ali***ime* (*denotes next server)
And we’re off! Sinner, serving to start, opens with a crisp forehand winner from the middle of the court early in the point. Then an easy overhead winner set up by another powerful forehand to Auger-Ali***ime’s backhand side for 30-love. Sinner follows with a backhand to the corner that a hurried Auger-Ali***ime can only dump into the net. Finally, the world No 1 crunches a 121mph ace down the middle to nail down the love hold. A good start.
The players have emerged onto Ashe after their tunnel interviews. Auger-Ali***ime first, then Sinner. Robust cheers for both men inside the stadium, which is half-empty but filling up fast. The players meet chair umpire Nico Helwerth of Germany at the net for the coin toss. Sinner calls heads. It’s tails and Auger-Ali***ime opts to receive first. We’ll be off and running in about five minutes after the players go through their warm-up.
Could a No 1 v No 2 final be in the cards? If Sinner wins tonight, Sunday’s championship match will be only the 14th US Open men’s final in the ATP rankings era (since 1973) to feature the world’s top two players.
The rivalry has produced a string of cl***ics already this season, and they’d be joining some storied company. The Connors-Borg clashes of the 1970s, McEnroe and Borg in the early 80s, Lendl’s duels with McEnroe and Becker, Sampras-Ag***i in 1995, and more recently Djokovic’s battles with Nadal, Federer and Medvedev are the reference points.
The most recent came in 2021, when Medvedev denied Djokovic the calendar-year slam in straight sets. Before that, Djokovic beat Federer in 2015 and Nadal in 2011, while Nadal turned the tables on the Serb in 2013.
A Sinner-Alcaraz showdown would be the first time in history that all four majors in a single season have featured No 1 against No 2, underlining just how much the sport has become a two-horse race in 2025.
A couple of US Open titles have already been doled out today. Just in the last hour, Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez and Japan’s Tokito Oda delivered an upset in the men’s wheelchair doubles final with a 6-1, 2-6, 10-6 win over top seeds Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid of Great Britain.
Earlier Friday, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe reclaimed the women’s doubles title to back up their 2023 win in New York. The Canadian-New Zealand duo, seeded third, toppled top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4 in Friday’s final on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
For Dabrowski, the moment carried special resonance. The 33-year-old revealed late last year she had played through treatment for breast cancer in 2024, delaying surgery so she could compete at Wimbledon. After months away and battling injuries, she called the journey back to the winner’s podium a “wild ride”. “Cancer, broken ribs for both of us, it was crazy,” she said. “I’m really proud of us. It was not easy.”
Townsend, meanwhile, was one of the figures of this year’s Open. Her second-round singles match against Jelena Ostapenko erupted into controversy when the Latvian accused her of having “no cl***” and “no education”. Ostapenko later apologized, citing English as her second language, while Townsend said she didn’t see racist intent but recognised the phrase carried damaging stereotypes in the Black community.
On court, Townsend enjoyed her best major in years. She reached the fourth round in singles, squandering eight match points against Barbora Krejcikova, and with Siniakova was chasing a third consecutive slam doubles crown after winning in Melbourne and at Wimbledon. Along the way, they ended the popular wildcard run of Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez.
“I feel like this tournament changed my life in terms of exposure,” Townsend said. “Even Novak [Djokovic] and Jannik [Sinner] came up to me to say I’d played really well. Everyone was watching.”
For Routliffe, 30, the victory capped a year highlighted by a Wimbledon final and the WTA Finals title. She and Dabrowski split $1m in prize money, underscoring a comeback forged through resilience and partnership.
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-Ali***ime. 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-Ali***ime 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-Ali***ime 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-Ali***ime 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 ***essment 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-Ali***ime 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.
