A 6-1 set score is often deceptive in tennis, as it usually sparks a stronger response from the opponent and turns the next set into a battle. Jannik Sinner, however, seems immune to that pattern. He frequently opens matches with a 6-1 set and still powers through to dominant victories. In this campaign alone, he has started three of his five matches with a 6-1 first set, while across the fortnight he has produced 6-1 or 6-0 sets on six occasions, bringing his season tally to 26.
Ideally, Sinner could have been chasing history this week. Had he converted one of his many chances in the French Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, he would now be just two wins away from completing the Calendar Grand Slam — a remarkable achievement that even the Big Four never managed and rarely came close to. Nevertheless, his 2025 Slam record remains outstanding. By reaching the semifinals here, he has already become the youngest world No. 1 in history to play four Grand Slam semifinals in a single season, surpassing legends like Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.
Sinner still has the chance to achieve something deeply satisfying, as no player since Roger Federer two decades ago has successfully defended the US Open title. He now stands as the strong favorite to end that long wait. Sinner captured his maiden US Open crown in 2024 with a dominant campaign, not dropping a set in either the semifinals against Jack Draper or the final against Taylor Fritz.
The Italian has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings all season despite serving a three-month suspension and playing only six tournaments before the US Open, an achievement in itself. Now, he has the chance to tighten his grip on the top spot by capturing the title in New York this week. At present, he sits just behind his rival Carlos Alcaraz in the live rankings, and if both reach the final, the winner will claim the world No. 1 position.
Sinner has put together an impressive 11-match winning streak in tour-level semifinals since his five-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open. Even more remarkable, he has reached the final of every hardcourt event he has entered since his quarterfinal exit at the Montreal Masters last August. On hard courts, he has not lost to a player ranked outside the top 20 since Cincinnati 2023, and in Grand Slams across all surfaces he has remained unbeaten against non-top-20 opponents since the 2023 French Open. It usually takes either an extraordinary performance from his rivals or a physical setback on his part for those streaks to be broken.
Felix Auger-Aliassime had a disastrous start to the US Open Series, falling in the opening round at his home event in Toronto to Fabian Marozsan. His season at the majors had been equally bleak, with just two wins across the previous three Grand Slams. Yet, against the odds, he rediscovered his form in New York, putting together a string of strong performances to make an unlikely run to the semifinals.
The talented but often inconsistent Canadian had never defeated a top-five player in a Grand Slam (0-6) before arriving in New York. That drought finally ended with a superb four-set victory over Alexander Zverev in the third round. Riding the momentum from that breakthrough, he went on to upset world No. 15 Andrey Rublev and No. 8 Alex de Minaur, turning it into a rare semifinal appearance at a major.
He had previously reached a Grand Slam semifinal once, also at the US Open in 2021, where he lost in straight sets to then-world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. Facing world No. 1 Jannik Sinner presents an exponentially tougher challenge, as this marks the first time he will share a court with a current world No. 1 on a Grand Slam stage.
The Canadian undoubtedly faces a herculean task on Friday, but he can play freely without pressure, having already far exceeded expectations this season. Beyond reaching a Grand Slam semifinal and securing several big wins, he has also re-entered the top 15 in the rankings, just a few months after being at risk of dropping out of the top 30.
Head-to-head: Felix Auger-Aliassime leads 2-1. Felix made a name for himself as a successful junior and was already making history at the Challenger level by age 16, while Jannik Sinner was largely unknown at that stage, only emerging on the ITF and Challenger circuits around 2019.
In terms of raw talent and potential, they were fairly comparable. However, the transformation Sinner has undergone over the past two years to become an elite, consistent, and ruthlessly efficient player puts him in a different league. On that basis, the Canadian is expected to struggle to make much of a contest.