Sinner fends off challenge from Yunchaokete Bu, heads to final match against Alcaraz

World No. 1 and defending China Open champion Jannik Sinner moves on to the tournament final after a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Chinese wild card Yunchaokete Bu. Sinner dominated his service game, playing much sharper than his previous three matches at the tournament. His semi-final win on the Diamond Court moves him to his eighth tour-level final of the year. Sinner will face World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday.

Sinner opened the match looking dominant. His ferocious service game left the 22-year-old Bu with no answers. Sinner’s mix of accuracy and power on his serves was a welcome sight after he dropped the first set in two of his three matches in the tournament. He recorded four aces in the first set and 11 aces in the match.

Despite Sinner’s sharpened service game, Bu proved to be a worthy challenger. The pair engaged in extensive rallies, where each player ran across the baseline to return shots. Both held their serve in the first four games, remaining closely matched. Sinner was able to take control after winning the fifth game, which featured six deuces and some exceptional shots from each. An abundance of rallies led the first five games of the set to take 32 minutes. Sinner took the next two games, including a key service break in the sixth game, and eventually won the set 6-3.

“In the beginning I tried to understand a little about how [Bu] was moving, how his shots are,” Sinner said in his press conference afterward. “It’s tough to play against him.”

The 23-year-old Italian continued to look solid in his service game in the second set, but Bu put the pressure on his return game. The two players were step-for-step in their competitive play, with each defending their respective serves. Long rallies yet again featured prominently. Despite three break point chances on Sinner’s serve, Bu fell short each time. He found himself chasing after Sinner’s shots and failed to make difficult cross-court shots, often hitting them into the net. Neither player budged in the service game, which led to a pivotal tie-break. There, Sinner took the first four straight points and eventually won the set 7-6(3). Sinner continues to be clutch in the tough moments; he has now won 17 of his last 18 tie-breaks going back to the third set of the quarter-finals in Halle in June.

With Tuesday’s win, Sinner improved his match winning streak to 15. He will now face No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, against whom he trails 5-4 in their head-to-head rivalry. This will be the pair’s second final meeting, with the Italian besting the Spaniard to win the Croatian Open Umag title in 2022.

—Reporting by Egan Ward