Sinner reaches Paris Masters final, closes in on No. 1 ranking

PARIS — Jannik Sinner routed a weary-looking Alexander Zverev 6-0, 6-1 in a little more than an hour Saturday to reach the Paris Masters final and move closer to reclaiming the No. 1 ranking.

The four-time Grand Slam champion from Italy will replace six-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz at the top if he wins Sunday’s final against ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who needs a win to clinch the eighth and final spot for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.

Auger-Aliassime earlier beat Alexander Bublik 7-6 (3), 6-4 in their semifinal at La Défense Arena.

Sinner extended his indoor winning streak to 25 matches, including a victory over Zverev in the Vienna final last weekend. He beat Zverev, the defending champion in Paris, for the fourth straight time to lead 5-4 in their career meetings.

The second-seeded Sinner was 5-0 up in 25 minutes and then served out a first set in which he won 90% of his first-serve points, compared to only 47% for Zverev. He had five break points on Zverev’s serve, converting two of them.

In the second set, Sinner broke Zverev for a 2-1 lead. The third-seeded German looked drained and stood with his hands on his knees after that game.

“Playing against Sascha is always a special occasion, and today he was clearly not 100%, we saw that,” said Sinner, who won 13 of 16 second-serve return points against a player who has one of the most powerful serves on the tour.

“When you drop the physicality like he did, you cannot find the full power on serve,” Sinner added. “I’m happy to be in the final, but it’s not how you want to arrive.”

Zverev had saved two match points to beat Daniil Medvedev in three sets in their gritty quarterfinal Friday to end a five-match losing streak against the Russian.

Sinner sympathized.

“He won an incredible match yesterday, two match points down,” Sinner said. “Making the final in Vienna, coming here and making the semis again, it’s an incredible run, but we all hope that he gets better and fit for Turin.”

Sinner will bid for his fifth title of the year and 23rd of his career Sunday; Auger-Aliassime goes for his fourth of the season and ninth overall.

They are 2-2 head-to-head, with Sinner winning the past two matches, including in the semifinals at this year’s US Open.

“We played a good match in New York. I think it was good tennis, but he still got the best of me,” Auger-Aliassime said. “He pushes players to be very, very disciplined tactically and to execute their game, you know, almost perfectly in order to win. You have to be ready to play your best tennis and to not make cheap mistakes.”

Bublik led 4-1 in the second set but lost five consecutive games, smashing his racket on the ground after one of them.

Serving for the match, Auger-Aliassime began with his 12th ace. A forehand winner at the net gave him a first match point, and he clinched it with another big forehand. Auger-Aliassime patted his heart and waved to the crowd.

Auger-Aliassime has won titles this year in Adelaide, Montpellier and Brussels.

The No. 13-seeded Bublik was the first Kazakh player to reach a Masters semifinal. He lost for the fourth time in six matches to Auger-Aliassime.