Jannik Sinner achieves a feat Carlos Alcaraz can’t match as he reaches Indian Wells final
Jannik Sinner has failed to win the last two Grand Slam tournaments played on hard courts, but he is still setting records on his favourite surface after he eased past Alexander Zverev to reach the Indian Wells Masters finals.
Carlos Alcaraz has got the better of Sinner on his favoured hard court surfaces by winning the US Open last September and backing it up by lifting his first Australian Open title at the start of 2026.
Yet Sinner is still viewed by many to be the king of hard court tennis and he is aiming to reassert his authority on the surface at the Indian Wells Masters.
Sinner is searching for his first title of 2026 and he looked to be in ominous form as he brushed Zverev aside with a 6-2, 6-4 win.
“It’s a great achievement. The first time here in the final, it means a lot to me,” said Sinner. “The third time that I’ve played the semis here, so I’m very happy about that. Now let’s see what’s coming.
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“Of course, the next one will be a very tough test, but I’m extremely happy. We have improved this week, this tournament, and that for me was the most important part.
“It was a great performance from my side. Sascha didn’t play very well today, I felt like. I broke him a couple of times in the first set, which gave me confidence to continue, and I served very well at important moments. I’m very happy.”
The win allowed Sinner to join an elite list of players who have reached the final at six ATP Masters 1000 events on hard court after Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev.
He has also become the first man to reach the final at consecutive Masters 1000 events without dropping a set since Andy Murray achieved the feat in his golden 2016 season, when he achiveed that feat in Cincinnati and Shanghai.
Sinner has yet to drop a set at Indian Wells and the bad news for his opponent in Sunday’s final is the last time he did this at the Paris Masters last November, he also won the final against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
This latest win for Sinner against Zverev was his six successive win against the German, with former British No 1 Tim Henman suggesting the key points were won by the world No 2.
“Zverev kind of handed Sinner the breaks in the first set,” Henman told Sky Sports. “It wasn’t as if Sinner played brilliant tennis to win those points.
“He had opportunities in the early part of the second set and you felt as if Zverev could have got one of those, then he would have turned the tables, but it was a little bit of a sense of déjà vu because you were waiting for Sinner to take those opportunities and it was very comfortable.”
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Despite this latest crushing victory, Sinner will not be able to challenge Alcaraz for the world No 1 ranking any time soon as the Spaniard has a comfortable lead at the top of the rankings.
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