Read & Watch: Sinner Back to Business… and the Semi-finals

Jannik Sinner returned to business as usual Friday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, brushing aside Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4 to set a semi-final showdown with Alexander Zverev.

Having seen his run of 37 consecutive sets won at ATP Masters 1000 level snapped in the third round against Tomas Machac, Sinner dominated the 92-minute contest, in which he clubbed 16 winners to eight.

Playing deep behind the baseline, Auger-Aliassime earned just one break point and for the third consecutive match failed to break Sinner, who put a modest 58 per cent of first serves into play.

“It was a step forward today. I knew I had to get better in certain areas,” Sinner said.

“The serve is not there yet, but all things considered I’m very happy to be into the semi-finals. Yesterday I was very tired but I recovered very well after a good night’s sleep.”

Sinner is looking to become the first player to win the first three Masters 1000s of the year since Novak Djokovic in 2015. He’s also looking to join Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the only players to win four consecutive tournaments at this level, having won Paris at the end of last year and Indian Wells and Miami last month.

The Italian, who won 10 of 12 net approaches Friday, also has the chance to reclaim World No. 1 from Carlos Alcaraz. Both players have spent 66 weeks atop the PIF ATP Rankings during their careers. Should they both advance to Sunday’s final, the championship match will determine who is No. 1 on Monday.