It has been a surprising Miami Open for the most part, but Jannik Sinner has been predictably immune to the upset bug.
Sinner is safely through to the semifinals and will face Alexander Zverev on Friday night for their 12th meeting. The head-to-head series stands at 7-4 in for of Sinner, who has won six in a row since trailing Zverev 4-1 back in the summer of 2023. Yes, that means the German has been winless since Sinner became the current version of himself. Their three most recent scorelines have been especially lopsided — 6-0, 6-1 followed by 6-4, 6-3 and then 6-2, 6-4 (the latter just two weeks ago in the Indian Wells semis).
There is no reason to think that anything will be different in Miami, where Sinner is 23-3 lifetime with one title (2024) and two runner-up performances. With Carlos Alcaraz having been eliminated almost a week ago, the Italian continues to be a massive favorite to lift the trophy for a second time. Sinner has advanced with straight-set victories over Damir Dzumhur, Cotentin Moutet, Alex Michelsen, and Frances Tiafoe.
Unsurprisingly, Zverev had a bit more trouble securing his spot in the last four. The fourth-round German quickly disposed of Martin Damm and Francisco Cerundolo, but he needed two tiebreakers to defeat Quentin Halys and was pushed to three sets by Marin Cilic.
Zverev is in fine form, but “fine” is not enough to trouble Sinner these days — just ask Tiafoe, who had been playing great but won only four games against the world No. 2 on Thursday. Sinner has dropped serve just once through four Miami matches and he has played three consecutive matches against Zverev without getting broken a single time.
All signs point to another routine win for the second seed.
Pick: Sinner in 2