At the BNP Paribas Open, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will square off in the blunderbuss semifinal. Sinner would become the first Italian tennis player to rank No. 2 if he defeated his youthful Spanish opponent.
It feels like a very long time ago that the Italian and the Spaniard were not pitted against one another in an official match since October 3, 2023. Sinner and Alcaraz have nearly switched places on the ATP Tour in the last five months.
Although the Spaniard has been struggling and hasn’t won a tournament since Wimbledon 2023, Jannik has been getting better every time he played and won the Australian Open. Sinner advanced to the Turin Finals and played a crucial role in Italy’s Davis Cup victory.
at perhaps the same circumstances, the two young sportsmen advanced to the ATP Master 1000 semi-finals at Indian Wells despite this kind of situation.
In the meantime, a few hours before the start of the highly anticipated semi-final, Sinner and Alcaraz trained together, as evidenced by a video shared by the @giovannipelazzo X account, which you can see below:
Sinner vs Alcaraz in a blockbuster challenge
Both the Italian and the Spaniard defeated the competition and earned the opportunity to play for their place in the final. Sinner didn’t concede a single set to his opponents and immediately seemed in shape right from the second round match.
The young Spaniard only suffered in the first set against Matteo Arnaldi, before leaving a total of 16 games.
Following the Californian event, the two fierce competitors—who are also great friends outside of competition—will square off for second place in the ATP world rankings.
Who will trail Novak Djokovic before the Miami Open will be decided in a straight fight.
The first match of the day will see Sinner and Alcaraz on the court, followed by Daniil Medvedev and Tommy Paul in the second semi-final.
