Alcaraz had only given up one set in his three group matches, after a lost tiebreak against the American Taylor Fritz.
He also had hardly any problems against Auger-Aliassime. He failed to capitalize on his first three break points in the first set, but then broke the Canadian twice. In the evenly matched second set, the Spaniard made the difference with a break at 5-4.
Jannik Sinner’s coach lashes out at Novak Djokovic? ‘Giving your opinion is actually the lowest form of human knowledge’
Sinner also defeated De Minaur in two sets in Turin. Sinner (24) became the winner in the Björn Borg Group with three victories. He won successively against Auger-Aliassime, the German Alexander Zverev and the American Ben Shelton. De Minaur, who is two years older, reached the semi-finals despite defeats in the other group against Alcaraz and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti. A victory over the American Taylor Fritz proved to be enough for a sequel.
In the evenly matched first set, most of the break opportunities were for Sinner. The Australian had his answer ready for a long time, but on the seventh chance Sinner struck at 5-5. After an hour and five minutes he then used his second set point.
Jannik Sinner © ANP/HH
Did Jannik Sinner ever lose to Alex de Minaur?
That was not a surprise, because the Italian had won all twelve previous matches with De Minaur. The Australian immediately lost his service game in the second set. With his third break in a row, Sinner quickly took a 3-0 lead. De Minaur still took two games, but after almost two hours the match was decided and it was clear that Sinner had a chance of a second final victory in a row on Sunday.
Novak Djokovic questions Jannik Sinner doping case: ‘I don’t like how this case was handled’
The number 1 position in the world rankings is not at stake in the final. By reaching the semi-finals in Turin, Alcaraz already secured that position at the end of the year.