Jannik Sinner defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets to reach the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters for the third time in his career. The world number two shared a positive fitness update after struggling in his previous match. He now faces Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
Jannik Sinner, the second seed, beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in under 90 minutes on Thursday, extending his head-to-head lead to 5-2. This victory followed a tougher win over Tomas Machac, where Sinner admitted to physical struggles. In his post-match interview, Sinner said, “Today I played an excellent match, it was an intense game. I knew I had to improve on certain things, even though my serve isn’t yet where I’d like it to be. Yesterday I was very tired and tonight I recovered by resting well. Now head to tomorrow, let’s try to sleep very well and then we’ll see what comes of it.” Despite landing 79% of first serves and saving his only break point, Sinner noted room for improvement on his serve ahead of Friday's semifinal against third seed Alexander Zverev. The pair are meeting in the semifinals for the third straight tournament this year, with Sinner leading their overall record 8-4 but tied 1-1 on clay. Zverev advanced after defeating Joao Fonseca. A win would set up a potential final against Carlos Alcaraz and position Sinner to reclaim the world number one ranking. The 24-year-old Italian extended his Masters 1000 winning streak to 20 matches, 19 in straight sets, placing him fourth on the all-time list behind Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
