Jannik Sinner tears past Alexander Zverev to reach his first Indian Wells final | ATP Tour

Match Report

Sinner tears past Zverev to reach his first Indian Wells final

World No. 2 will face Alcaraz or Medvedev for ATP Masters 1000 crown

March 14, 2026

Jannik Sinner wasted little time breaking a California-desert boundary Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open.

The No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings raced to a 6-2, 6-4 semi-final victory against fourth seed Alexander Zverev at the ATP Masters 1000 event. Sinner, who had fallen in the last four on his past two appearances in Indian Wells, produced a razor-sharp all-around showing to earn his sixth consecutive tour-level win against Zverev and seal a maiden championship-match appearance in ‘Tennis Paradise’.

“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. 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.”

After reaching the final for the sixth time in his seven most recent Masters 1000 appearances, the 24-year-old Sinner will take on World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final. The Italian lost to his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semi-finals in both 2023 and 2024.

Zverev had initially made a confident start to Saturday’s semi-final encounter. The German won his first eight points on serve but, with Sinner taking up a deep return position to ensure he got into rallies, that serenity quickly faded. The Italian converted a break point at 30/40 in each of the fifth and seventh games, with Zverev pushing a forehand wide on both occasions to hand his opponent the break. In the eighth game, Sinner promptly closed out a set in which he dropped just four points behind serve.

Needing to halt Sinner’s momentum, Zverev came perilously close to dropping a sixth straight game at the beginning of the second set. He pushed another forehand way long and then double faulted to hand Sinner two break points at 15/40, but the German composed himself to hold serve and regain his footing in the match.

Appearing to have settled into his rhythm, Zverev had Sinner under pressure for the first time when he carved out his opening break point of the match at 3-2. Yet the Italian responded by rocketing an ace onto the line en route to holding serve, and he subsequently capitalised on a sloppy service game from Zverev to move 4-3 ahead.

Sinner remained typically precise on serve until the end and closed out his 83-minute victory having won 83 per cent (24/29) of points behind his first delivery overall, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He is the first Italian men’s singles finalist in the history of the BNP Paribas Open and has now reached the championship match at all six hard-court Masters 1000 tournaments.

“It was a bit of a gameplan before the match, but it also depends on how I’m feeling,” said Sinner, when asked about the variety in return position he deployed to counter Zverev’s big serve. “I think that was the key today, trying to mix it up. Every match against him is very tough, a tough test, so I’m happy to face him. It’s a match I was looking forward to.”

With his run to the last four in Indian Wells, Zverev became just the fifth man to complete the set of semi-final appearances at all nine Masters 1000 events. Yet the German will head to the Miami Open presented by Itau knowing that he needs to find a way to crack the code of Sinner, who now leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 7-4 after reeling off his sixth consecutive triumph against his rival.