It’s been a surprising Miami Open for the most part, but Jannik Sinner has been immune to the upset bug.
Sinner is safely through to the semi-finals and will face Alexander Zverev on Friday night in their 12th meeting. The head-to-head series stands at 7-4 for Sinner, who has won six in a row since trailing Zverev 4-1 back in the summer of 2023. Yes, that means the German hasn’t won since Sinner became his current version. Their last three scores were big losses – 6-0, 6-1 followed by 6-4, 6-3 and then 6-2, 6-4 (two weeks ago in the Indian Wells semis).
There’s no reason to think anything will be different in Miami, where Sinner is 23-3 with one title (2024) and two home runs. With Carlos Alcaraz ruled out almost a week ago, the Italian remains the favorite to lift the trophy for a second time. Sinner advanced with straight wins over Damir Dzumhur, Cotentin Moutet, Alex Michelsen, and Frances Tiafoe.
Unsurprisingly, Zverev had more trouble finding his place in the last four. The German fourth-rounder quickly disposed of Martin Damm and Francisco Cerundolo, but needed two tiebreakers to defeat Quentin Halys and was pushed to three sets by Marin Cilic.
Zverev is in good form, but “good” isn’t enough to worry Sinner these days – just ask Tiafoe, who has been playing a lot but won just four games against the world No. 2 on Thursday. Sinner has dropped just once in Miami’s four matches and has gone three straight matches against Zverev without a single break.
All signs point to another way to win a second interest.
Choose: Sinner in 2
