Jannik Sinner will resume his burgeoning rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s US Open final while maintaining an historic level of elite consistency he revealed he had not thought possible.
The world No.1 outsteadied a resurgent Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets on Friday night to progress to his fifth consecutive Grand Slam final – including all four in 2025.
He is one victory from becoming the first man to defend his US Open singles title since Roger Federer in 2008 and could match Federer’s standalone men’s feat of winning four consecutive hardcourt majors.
There’s plenty more history on the line for the Italian star, but there was one achievement which gave him the most pride.
“I think five straight Grand Slam finals, it's something great,” said Sinner, becoming just the fourth man in the Open era to achieve this after Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“The consistency and putting myself there in the later stages of the biggest tournaments we have, it's amazing,
“I know it's in the back of my head, whatever I'm doing, but in the same time whatever is done is done.
“I'm here. I have a very important day Sunday, and then we see.”
Sinner’s campaign of sustained excellence dates back to the beginning of 2024, when he won his first major title at the Australian Open. He’s now a four-time Slam champion – most recently at Wimbledon – and has won 110 of his past 120 matches.
That’s a success rate approaching 92 per cent which, frighteningly for opponents, spikes even higher on hardcourts.
Prior to the tournament, practically any credible observer predicted Sinner would progress through his half of the draw and arrive in the final. He dropped only one set en route to the semifinals, winning six of those sets 6-1.
There he met Auger-Aliassime, who better-resisted Sinner’s prodigious ball-striking than the top seed’s previous opponents, Alexander Bublik and Lorenzo Musetti. Together they managed to win just 10 games across six sets; Bublik jokingly referred to Sinner’s performance as AI-generated following a 6-1 6-1 6-1 defeat.
Auger-Aliassime matched Sinner in the power stakes, striking his serve slightly bigger and finishing with 36 winners to Sinner’s 33. He attained his highest level in the second set, with a serving masterclass shutting Sinner out. Yet throughout the three-hour, 21-minute match, he couldn’t control his weaponry in the same way, spraying 41 unforced errors to Sinner’s 22.
“Jannik, you know, all credit to him. He's been dominating on hard courts, but I mean, kind of everywhere,” Auger-Aliassime reflected.
Sinner’s in-match consistency, reliability and relentlessness is a theme also reflected in his week-to-week results. This was his 27th consecutive win at a hardcourt major, one that improves his 2025 win-loss record on hard courts to 18-1.
The player responsible for that single blemish? That would be Alcaraz, albeit after Sinner retired when trailing 5-0 in the recent Cincinnati final.
Alcaraz has appeared Sinner-like at times during this fortnight in New York. For the first time in his career, he hasn't dropped a set en route to a Grand Slam final.
“It's something that I'm working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general. Just not having up-and-downs in the match,” Alcaraz said after beating Novak Djokovic in Friday’s first semifinal. “So I'm thinking I'm doing that in this tournament, which I'm really proud about.”
Sinner has noticed Alcaraz’ improvement in this area, as well as the Spaniard’s increasingly potent serve.
Yet he is on a similar trajectory of improvement, noting his serve, net game, movement and physicality had all come a long way in the past few years.
Already ranked No.1 and No.2 while still trending up, Sinner and Alcaraz will meet in the latest installment of their Grand Slam rivalry, which began in New York three years ago in an epic quarterfinal.
“He's someone who pushed me to limit, which is great, because then you have the best feedback you can have as a player. We have faced each other quite a lot now lately,” Sinner said ahead of their third Grand Slam final meeting in 2025.
“Always when we step on court, we are aware of maybe more things, because him or me, we try to prepare the match tactically and in different ways.
“I'm someone who loves these challenges, and I love to put myself in these positions and to see how it goes.”