Jannik Sinner underlined his dominance on hardcourts in the Asian swing by outlasting Australian third seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 4-6 6-2 on Tuesday to reach his third straight China Open final.
Sinner made a typically fast start in his bid to secure an 11th straight victory over De Minaur, breaking the world number eight to love for a 4-2 lead, but he had to battle hard in the next game to hold serve.
The 2023 champion had no trouble wrapping up the first set from there but ran into trouble early in the next, appearing to struggle physically at times, before tight holds helped him go level at 3-3 and then 4-4.
De Minaur persevered to win only his second ever set against the Italian with a gutsy performance in the 10th game but Sinner regrouped in the decider, breaking in the first game and holding off his opponent to reach a ninth straight final on hardcourts.
The four-time Grand Slam winner will meet in the final either American 19-year-old Learner Tien or former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, who will face off in the other semi-final in Beijing later on Tuesday.
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