Top-ranked Jannik Sinner defied the controversy surrounding his doping case to join Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev on Monday in the China Open semifinals.
Jannik Sinner hits an outrageous angle against Jiri Lehecka in Beijing.
Incredible movement to get up to the drop shot.
The softest little angle to turn the point on its head.
The defending champion will face either Andrey Rublev or Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete after defeating Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) for his 14th win in a row.
Sinner d. Lehecka 6-2 7-6
The way Jannik’s been able to compartmentalize & stay focused this year is so impressive.
Mentally, he’s become a different beast entirely.
The 23-year-old is under the microscope after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said on Saturday it was seeking a ban of up to two years after he twice tested positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared the Italian of wrongdoing in August and allowed him to continue playing, and weeks later he won the US Open for his second major title.
The ITIA accepted Sinner’s explanation that the drug entered his system when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.
Wada has appealed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
On the tennis court, the world No 1 recovered from a set down to win his first two matches in Beijing but he made a fast start against the 37th-ranked Lehecka from the Czech Republic.
Sinner surged through the first set of their quarterfinal but there was little between them in the second as they traded some thunderous groundstrokes.
They went to a tie break, where Sinner saved two set points on the way to victory.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz plays last year’s runner-up Medvedev after emerging from a tense first set to defeat Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-5, 6-2.
Russian third seed Medvedev beat unseeded Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-4.
Alcaraz and 2021 US Open champion Medvedev have met seven times before with the Spaniard winning five of their meetings, most recently in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
“When he’s in the zone he’s probably the best player in the world,” Medvedev said of the second seed.
“I feel like now he’s in the zone, so it’s a great test for me.”