Sinner Dominates Zverev, Sets Paris Masters Showdown With Auger-Aliassime

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, November 1, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

For the second time in less than a week, Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev. In a tale of two matches played in two European capital cities, Vienna and Paris, the World No. 2 from Italy beat up on the World No. 3 from Germany, who this time appeared to struggle physically with his movement and stamina. 

Sinner dominated his 6-0, 6-1 semifinal victory over Zverev, the defending Rolex Paris Masters champion, from first ball to last ball in a match that lasted just 62 minutes on Court Central. The victory advanced Sinner to the Paris final for the first time. He’s the first Italian man to reach the Paris title match in tournament history.

The victory, which was Sinner’s fifth in nine meetings against Zverev, was his 25th straight triumph on indoor hard courts. It advanced him to his 32nd tour-level final – and ninth one this year.

Now, with his 52nd victory of 2025 secured, Sinner is just 100 points shy of Carlos Alcaraz in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He can reclaim the World No. 1 spot – and push Alcaraz to World No. 2 – if he wins the title on Sunday.

Sinner will face World No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the final. He is level with Auger-Aliassime at 2-2 in their career head-to-head matchup after having won their last two meetings, at the Cincinnati Open and the US Open earlier this season.

To arrive at the title match, Sinner pushed ahead of Zverev by a double-break 3-0 lead in the opening set after hitting a laser-pointed, cross-court forehand winner that ended a five-minute-plus, 12-point game. Then, the Italian No. 1 consolidated the break with his second ace to pull ahead 4-0. Soon, he broke Zverev, again, and closed out the 30-minute opening set with his 11th winner, a perfectly-placed third ace down the T to capture the set 6-0. Throughout, Sinner moved Zverev about the court, winning points with power as well as with adroitly-placed drop shots.

As the second set unfolded, Sinner continued to control matters and broke to go ahead 3-2. Then, he consolidated the break with his sixth service ace. There didn’t seem to be much that Zverev could do to stop Sinner, who continued to apply pressure to the German No. 1. Sinner went ahead a double-break 4-1 as everything he seemed to get his racquet on landed on the other side of the net a winner. 

Soon, Sinner consolidated another break with ease to push ahead further at 5-1, needing  to win just one more game to advance to the final. As the match reached the one-hour mark, Sinner was just two points from victory. Then, as he gained match point, Zverev hit a fifth-shot forehand into the net. Sinner clearly handed Zverev one of his worst semifinal defeats in his career. 

“When you drop the physicality like [Alexander] did, you can’t’ find full power on the serve,” Sinner said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Obviously, I’m happy to be in the final. But it’s now how you want to arrive. Playing against Sascha is always a special occasion. Today, he was not 100 percent. We saw that. He was struggling physically and had a tight schedule in the past months.

“He made the final in Vienna. Semis here again. It’s an incredible run for him. We all hope he gets better and fit for Turin.”

With a chance to return to No. 1 with a title victory this week in Paris, Sinner played determined tennis throughout the duration of his semifinal match. He did what he had to do against Zverev – and he did it well.

By the end, Sinner had accumulated 23 winners, made only 12 unforced errors and won all but two of first-serve points (19 of 21) for a 90-percent efficiency rate. He faced no break points on his serve, broke Zverev six times in nine opportunities, and outpointed his opponent 54-26. By comparison, Zverev was able to muster only six winners, committed 20 unforced errors and won just 48 percent (16 of 33) of his first-serve points.

On this particular day, Sinner was simply too good for Zverev. Time and time again, he showed why he has some of the most accurate groundstrokes in men’s tennis. “From my side, I’m very happy to be in the final,” he said.

During his on-court interview, Sinner addressed the prospect of facing Auger-Aliassime.

“He plays incredible tennis,” Sinner said. “He’s improved a lot – especially the past months. He’s found his game, again. I’m looking forward to it tomorrow. Playing against him, especially in a final, is a great occasion for both of us.”

Auger-Aliassime becomes third Canadian finalist in Paris Masters history

There was plenty at stake when World No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime and World No. 16 Alexander Bublik took to Court Central for their matinee semifinal. 

The newly-married, 25-year-old from Canada came in seeking to reach his 20th ATP Tour final – 12th on indoor hard courts – and to become the third Canadian finalist at this event after Milos Raonic (2014) and Denis Shapovalov (2019). Plus, if Auger-Aliassime could beat Bublik, he would pass Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti for No. 8 on the PIF ATP Race To Turin and could qualify for his second trip to the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin by winning the title on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the 28-year-old Bublik from Kazakhstan has been enjoying the best season of his career after garnering a career-best 37 victories and winning four ATP Tour titles. He owns the third-most Top 10 wins in 2025 (six), behind Carlos Alcaraz (13) and Jannik Sinner (12). Now, after earlier defeating No. 4 Taylor Fritz in Thursday’s third round and No. 6 Alex de Minaur in Friday’s quarterfinals, Bublik was looking to reach the biggest final of his career.

As it happened, Auger-Aliassime pulled out a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Bublik in an hour and 36 minutes – rallying from 1-4 down in the second second set to win the last five games of the semifinal – to advance to Sunday’s championship final against the World No. 2 Sinner.

“I’m so happy. A Masters 1000 final sounds really good,” said Auger-Aliassime, who reached his second ATP Masters 1000 title match, following his march to the final at Madrid in 2024. “You don’t play those finals every week, every day. Hopefully I can go all the way and get the title. In terms of today and even the last matches, you know, you get into a Masters, and every match is tough.”

Auger-Aliassime got off to a very clean and effective start by racking up four service aces through his first two service games, while Bublik maintained a measured approach in holding his serve. Throughout much of the first set, rallies were generally short but both players exhibited their powerful serves and forehand groundstrokes. 

Through the first eight games, tied 4-all, there was very little that separated either Auger-Aliassime or Bublik. Neither had faced a break point on their serve and, soon, when the score reached 5-all, each player had scored an identical 27 points. When Auger-Aliassime held serve to go up 6-5, it ensured him of at least a tie-break to decide the first set. Then, Bublik held serve after striking his third ace up the middle to force a tie-break. 

In the tie-break, Auger-Aliassime struck his 10th ace to take a 5-3 lead and hit an overhead smash – his 20th winner of the opener – to gain a set point at 6-3. Then, an unforced error by Bublik gave the Canadian No. 1 the first set 7-6 (3) after 50 minutes of relentless and quality play.

As the second set unfolded, Auger-Aliassime found himself facing his first break points of the match, down 0-40. Bublik responded with an overhead smash winner that capped a dramatic 12-shot rally that rewarded him with a break lead at 2-0. However, Auger-Aliassime struck back immediately. He gained a break point at 30-40 with a backhand winner up the line, then broke Bublik to get back on serve. Frustrated, Bublik smashed his racquet – pounding it emphatically into the hard-court surface four times – and received a warning for racquet abuse from chair umpire Adel Nour.

On the charge again, Bublik broke Auger-Aliassime with a fourth-shot forehand winner to go ahead 3-1. Suddenly, the Canadian No. 1 was having difficulty with placing his first serve into play and Bublik was more than happy to take advantage of his opponent’s dip in levels. Bublik consolidated the break without any drama for a healthy 4-1 lead. However, he faced a pair of break points in the seventh game and was broken after netting a backhand drop shot. Suddenly, the competitors were back on serve as the match reached the 85-minute mark.

Next, Auger-Aliassime won his third straight game, holding serve for 4-all with a running forehand volley winner. Then, he gained a couple of break points at 15-40, and broke for the lead – seizing his moment – after striking a brilliant fourth-shot forehand winner. Suddenly, Auger-Aliassime lead 5-4 with the match on his racquet.

Serving for the match, Auger-Aliassime closed out the semifinal victory with pace and precision. He put away his 48th victory of the season with a flourish – hitting his 31st winner with authority.

Auger-Aliassime, a class act on the indoor courts on the ATP Tour, was all smiles – tapping his heart with his right hand as he smiled and waved to the crowd that filled La Défense Arena – and all was good between him and Bublik, whose outside chance for a spot in Turin ended with the loss. 

“It’s a 56-draw and it is stacked. You wake up on a day and feel, ‘This guy is playing good, that guy is playing good. Everybody is playing good’,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview ATP Media. “So you’re always curious and a bit nervous to see how your game is going to match up. I have deep self confidence in my game. I know what I can do against the best players in the world, but you still have to go and execute. Today I did really well and I’m happy with the result.”

During his post-match news conference, Auger-Aliassime spoke about facing Sinner. “I feel like he pushes players to be very, very disciplined tactically and to execute their game, you know, almost perfectly in order to win,” he said. “You know, you have to be ready to play your best tennis and to not make cheap mistakes. So I’m going to try to do that and win tomorrow.”

Regardless of Sunday’s Paris outcome, Auger-Aliassime has moved into eighth place with a 90-point lead over Musetti (3,845-3,685) in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. He is scheduled to play in the ATP 250 Moselle Open in Metz, France, while Musetti will be in action in Athens in the ATP 250 Vanda Pharmaceuticals Hellenic Championship.

Around La Défense Arena

• Doubles No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain advanced to Sunday’s championship final after defeating French wild cards Quentin Halys and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-3, 6-4, in 69 minutes on Court Central.

The winners combined to hit four aces, won 79 percent (22 of 28) of their first-serve points, converted four of 11 break points and outpointed the French duo 58-45.

On Sunday, Heliovaara and Patten (48-19), who have won titles this year at the Australian Open and last month in Beijing, will face No. 2 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, who beat Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Lucas Miedler of Austria, 6-4, 5-7, 10-7, Saturday evening. Cash and Glasspool, who won last week’s title in Vienna, have also won crowns this year in Brisbane, Doha, Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Wimbledon and Toronto.

• Former doubles World No. 1 and two-time Rolex Paris Masters champion Rohan Bopanna of India announced his retirement from professional tennis Saturday. The 45-year-old Indian, ranked 54th, played his last match earlier this week in Paris, teaming with Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. They were defeated by John Peers of Australia and JJ Tracy of the United States, 7-5, 2-6, 10-8.

In his final season on the ATP Tour, Bopanna compiled an 18-24 win-loss record. His best finish this year was reaching the final at Tokyo with Takeru Yuzuki of Japan.

Bopanna attained the World No. 1 ranking after winning his first major doubles title at the 2024 Australian Open, teamed with Aussie Matthew Ebden. He became the oldest first-time No. 1 at the age of 43.

Saturday’s Rolex Paris Masters results

Sunday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

With his semifinal victory, Jannik Sinner has become the only man to reach multiple hard-court ATP Masters 1000 finals this season after his run to the Cincinnati Open final in August. Sinner, who is the first Italian semifinalist in tournament history, can regain the World No. 1 ranking on the PIF ATP Rankings with a title win on Sunday.

“Quotable …”

“These are the matches you train for and play for. It’s always great to play these guys and see how my game matches with them. I’ve played tennis for a long time. I’ve been training all these years to improve.

“I’ve made some great improvements, and tomorrow I have the chance to showcase it in front of everyone. I’m going to wake up ready. At the same time, with these guys, you have to be so sharp. Tactically, and with discipline. They don’t give you anything, so you have to be ready to play you’re A-game.”

– Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, during his on-court interview with ATP Media, following his semifinal win over Alexander Bublik to advance to Sunday’s Rolex Paris Masters final.

 

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