World No. 1 Jannik Sinner reached his first Madrid Masters 1000 final on Friday, defeating France’s Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4 to continue one of the most dominant runs of his career.
The Italian will play for the Madrid title against the winner of the second semifinal between Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the world No. 3 and a two-time Madrid champion, and young Belgian Alexander Blockx.
Sinner had never gone beyond the quarterfinals in the Spanish capital, but he changed that with a composed and efficient performance on the clay courts of the Caja Mágica. The win also kept him in contention to become the first player in history to win five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles, after previous victories in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.
The result carried another milestone. By reaching the Madrid final, Sinner became the youngest man to reach the final at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events, joining Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in that elite group.
Fils entered the semifinal in strong form after winning the Barcelona title and building confidence through the Madrid draw. But the Frenchman, the first player from his country to reach a Madrid Masters 1000 semifinal since Gilles Simon, found few openings against Sinner in the first set.
The Italian controlled the baseline exchanges, returned sharply and kept Fils under constant pressure. Sinner broke early and never allowed the Frenchman to settle, taking the opening set with little drama.
Fils offered more resistance in the second set. He improved on serve, stayed closer in the rallies and forced Sinner to work harder for chances. But the pressure eventually told. Sinner earned the decisive break late in the set and served out the match with the calm that has defined his recent run.
“Fils is in incredible form right now. With the season he is having, he is one of the best players in the world at the moment,” Sinner said after the match.
“I’m very happy, especially with the first set. It was a very high level, and I’m glad I was able to close the match in two sets.”
The victory gave Sinner another step toward history and another chance to underline his status as the player to beat on the ATP Tour. A title in Madrid would extend his Masters 1000 streak and move him closer to completing one of the rarest achievements in the sport.
