Top seed Jannik Sinner and No. 3 seed Alex De Minaur will meet in the semifinals of the 2025 China Open in what promises to be a high-level clash of styles.
Sinner’s all-around game, anchored by precise, powerful groundstrokes and elite court coverage, will be tested by De Minaur’s speed and defensive skill. Conditions in Beijing have suited Sinner well this year.
“These type of conditions suit him to a tee,” De Minaur said of Sinner’s game. “The ball’s heavy, he can hit through it, he’s got immense power, and it’s slow so he uses his movements very well.”
Sinner has dominated their head-to-head, holding a commanding 10-0 lead over the World No. 8. Their most recent meeting came at the Australian Open in January, where Sinner won in straight sets. Sinner has not lost a set to De Minaur in their last three meetings, dropping no more than four games in any set. De Minaur said he looked to World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz for a blueprint to beat the Italian.
“The way Carlos has had success against him is with a lot of variation– changing ball flights, speeds, timings– just do your best not to give him the same look too often,” he said. “Because that’s where he’s at his best and ultimately you’re gonna have to go for the match and try and play on your terms.”
De Minaur called Sinner “arguably the toughest task in tennis right now,” but he believes he has a legitimate chance to score the upset: “Either way it’s gonna be a very tough challenge, but also saying that, I’ve been playing some great tennis this week, so might as well give myself a right little crack at it.”
“Yeah, he has improved a lot in the past three, four months,” Sinner said of the Australian. “He's very consistent, great results throughout the whole year. It's going to be for sure a tough match. I'm looking forward to it.”
De Minaur leads the ATP tour in hard court wins this season with 33 and has the second-most ATP 500 wins, trailing only Alcaraz. He has tied his personal-best 47 wins in a season, and is 3-1 against Top 20 players since August, highlighted by victories over No. 3 Alexander Zverev and then-No. 17 Jakub Mensik.
Sinner, the 2023 China Open champion, has now reached his third semifinal in Beijing, becoming the seventh man to do so. It is his seventh semifinal in eight tournaments this year. He enters the match with a 21-2 hard-court record in 2025 but expects a challenge.
The winner of this Top 3 bout will face the winner of No. 52 Learner Tien vs. No. 8 seed Daniil Medvedev in Wednesday’s final on the Diamond Court.
— Reporting by Coby Spratte
Sinner looking sharp after win over Marozsan
World No. 2 and top seed Jannik Sinner defeated World No. 57 Fabian Marozsan 6-1, 7-5 in the quarterfinals on Monday, Sept. 29, on the Diamond Court.
Marozsan opened the match in promising fashion, holding serve to love and finishing the game with a second serve ace. But from there, Sinner completely took control of the opening set with a mix of powerful aces and sharp forehand winners, amid Marozsan’s errors.
The second set brought a different story as Marozsan settled in. Neither player faced a break point in the first eight games, until Marozsan impressivley saved four in the ninth. Marozsan earned the first break of the set with a forehand winner followed by a delicate touch at the net to move ahead 5-4. But the lead didn’t last, with Sinner immediately breaking back to love. With the score tied 5-5, Sinner stayed in command, winning the final two games as Maroszan piled on more errors.
“I feel like it was a good match,” Sinner said afterward. “He raised his level very much. Then he missed a couple of easy shots, which then gave me the opportunity to close the match in two sets.”
—Reporting by Connor Greene
Mensik retires to put De Minaur through
De Minaur advanced to the semifinals after No. 7 seed Jakub Mensik retired in the first set. Mensik was broken in his second service game and trailed 2-1 when he took a medical timeout for treatment on his left leg and knee. Two games later, he retired after 29 minutes of play.
He told De Minaur he was feeling sharp, shooting pain in his leg that would worsen if he kept playing and apologized for having to stop. De Minaur wished Mensik a speedy recovery before the Shanghai tournament but noted the unexpected rest could benefit him.
“Especially at the end of a really long year, and at the back of me playing a lot of tennis, it’s gonna be good for the body to get a little bit of time to recover and kind of conserve that energy for a big task ahead of me tomorrow,” he said.
—Reporting by Coby Spratte
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