Indian Wells 2023: Italy’s Jannik Sinner ousted defending champion Taylor Fritz 6-4 4-6 6-4 at Indian Wells 2023 on Thursday and will play top seed Carlos Alcaraz who beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 for a spot in the final. Follow Indian Wells 2023 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Sinner, 21, was sharp from the outset, riding an early service break and fending off a break point to take the first set behind his solid baseline game.
Fourth seed Fritz responded in the second, breaking Sinner on set point with a backhand winner that brought the crowd to their feet.
An exchange of breaks kicked off the third and Fritz smacked a forehand winner for a 4-3 lead but 11th seed Sinner took control from there.
He leveled at 4-4 with an athletic overhead, broke for a 5-4 advantage and blasted a serve Fritz could not handle on match point, the American’s backhanded return sailing long to end the engrossing contest in the Southern California desert.
SINNER ELIMINATES THE REIGNING CHAMP! 😱
Jannik Sinner battles past Taylor Fritz in three sets to reach his second Masters 1000 semifinal and gets his second (consecutive) top-5 win.
Sinner is closer to the top 10 again.
16-3 in 2023. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/UfKrjEycCQ
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) March 17, 2023
“I just tried to play quite aggressively, which I’ve done,” said Sinner, who booked his first semi-final at the Masters 1000 tournament.
“I’m obviously very happy about the performance. Playing against Taylor is never easy. I lost against him two years ago here. He loves the conditions here so I’m very happy that I found a way today.”