Jannik Sinner survives injury scare to book US Open title showdown with Carlos Alcaraz
By
SABC Sport
6th September 2025
Defending champion Jannik Sinner reached the 2025 US Open final with a hard-fought victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime, achieving several more records in the process.
The four-time Grand Slam winner won a tense semi-final 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach a fifth consecutive Grand Slam final and set up another blockbuster title match against rival Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the other semi-final.
The Italian was not at his best against Auger-Aliassime and also suffered a slight injury scare but still had more than enough firepower to dispatch his opponent in the end.
"It's been an amazing season, obviously," Sinner said after beating the Canadian. "Grand Slams are the most important tournaments we have throughout the year, and finding myself again in another final this year, especially the last one of the season, with an amazing crowd, doesn't matter when you play. It doesn't get any better.
"Me and Felix, we played the last tournament [Cincinnati, where Sinner lost just two games] and he is a completely different player. He was serving much better, hitting every shot much better. So it was a very tough match today, but obviously I'm very, very happy."
With his victory on Friday, Sinner became only the fourth player in history to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a calendar year.
He finds himself among the all-time greats as Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the other men to achieve the feat in the Open Era - although notably, at 24 years and 20 days, Sinner is the youngest of the four to achieve the feat.
The Italian also became only the fourth player after the Big Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to reach five consecutive Grand Slam finals in the Open Era.
"Sunday is a very special day and an amazing final again," said Sinner.
"We'll see what's coming. I feel like our rivalry started here playing an amazing match [when Alcaraz beat Sinner in the 2022 US Open quarter-finals]. We are two different players now, with different confidence too.
"We've played each other a lot, we know each other very well."
