Miami: World number two Jannik Sinner cruised into the ATP and WTA Miami Open semi-finals on Thursday while American fourth seed Coco Gauff powered her way to the women’s final.
Sinner dominated 19th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-2, the four-time Grand Slam champion from Italy advancing in 71 minutes at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
Sinner, hoping to complete a “Sunshine Double” with March titles at Miami and Indian Wells, stretched his ATP Masters 1000 set win streak to 30, having not dropped a set at the level since last October in Shanghai. “I started off very well, was serving very good in really important moments so that for sure helped me,” Sinner said. “Very happy about today’s performance.”
Gauff overwhelmed Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-1 to reach Saturday’s women’s final.
Gauff, the reigning French Open champion, will play for the title against the winner of a blockbuster semi-final between top-ranked defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and second-ranked Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Rybakina beat Sabalenka in January’s Australian Open final, Sabalenka avenging that defeat in the Indian Wells final this month.
Now Sabalenka hopes to extend her 9-7 lead in their all-time rivalry on the way to completing her own “”Sunshine Double”.
Rybakina, seeded third despite rising to second in the world after her run to the Indian Wells final, was the Miami runner-up in 2023 and 2024 but has yet to lift the trophy.
Sinner will next face world number four Alexander Zverev of Germany, who swept past 19th-ranked Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 6-2.
Zverev didn’t face a break point and broke Cerundolo twice in each set to polish off the victory in 65 minutes.
Tiafoe netted a backhand to surrender a break to Sinner in the opening game of the match and the Italian was off and running, dropping just four points on his serve in pocketing the set in 31 minutes.
In the second set, Tiafoe saved a break point and held serve in the opening game but Sinner broke in the third for a 2-1 lead, breaking again for 5-2 when Tiafoe smacked a forehand wide.
Sinner, the 2024 Miami champion, fired 14 aces and 33 winners in all against 15 unforced errors.
“It was a good serving day for sure,” Sinner said.
Sabalenka subdues Rybakina to reach Miami Open final
World number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka powered past second-ranked Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to line up a Miami Open title clash with Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka, who fell to Rybakina in the Australian Open final before turning the tables on the Kazakh in the Indian Wells title match this earlier this month, broke the big-serving Rybakina twice in each set to come out on top in the blockbuster semi-final and keep her bid for the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami on track.
“I think I did everything right,” said Sabalenka, who applied ruthless pressure on Rybakina’s serve while delivering a sterling service performance that featured nine aces -- including four in a row across the seventh and ninth games of the opening set.
