Sinner Advances To First Madrid Open Final With History-Making Victory

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Mateo Villalba/MMO)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, May 1, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner came into his Mutua Madrid Open semifinal against No. 21 seed Arthur Fils riding high on a 21-match winning streak after winning a trio of ATP Masters 1000 singles titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.

As he walked out on Manila Santana Stadium, Sinner was one win away from becoming the fourth – and youngest man – to complete the set of ATP Masters 1000 finals since the series began in 1990.

By the end of his one-hour, 26-minute semifinal against Fils, won by Sinner 6-2, 6-4, the 24-year-old Italian from the South Tyrol had secured his 22nd-straight victory of the season – and 27th-consecutive win in ATP Masters 1000 competition going back to his Rolex Paris Masters title run last October.

Not to be lost among all of the statistical accolades belonging to Sinner, the top seed also sought the 350th win of his career to become the first man born in the 2000s to reach that milestone. Check ✅. He also aimed to advance to his fifth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 final, which would join him in the company of Novak Djokovic (7) and Rafael Nadal (5 twice) as the only men to achieve the feat in series history, and to follow Roger Federer (2006) and Nadal (2011) as the only men to advance to the title match finals of all of the first four ATP Masters 1000 events of the season. Check ✅ and check ✅.

On the other side of the net, the World No. 25 Fils from Bondoufle, France, near Paris, who is set to return to the ATP Top 20 next week, sought the biggest win of his career to become the youngest French ATP Masters 1000 finalist since Richard Gasquet (age 20) in 2006 at Toronto – and the first Frenchman to defeat a World No. 1 on clay since Gasquet defeated No. 1 Federer in 2005 at Monte-Carlo.

Fils brought a nine-match winning streak on clay into the semifinal, after capturing Barcelona, looking to become the fifth man to advance to the finals of both Spanish clay events in a season since Madrid switched to clay in 2009.

However, Fils met his match against Sinner – and, come Sunday, Sinner will play for a chance to win his fourth-straight ATP Masters 1000 title of 2026 against World No. 3 and second seed Alexander Zverev of Germany.

“I tried to be aggressive,” Sinner said during his on-court interview after beating Fils for his 29th triumph of the season. “I felt very comfortable on the return. In the second set, he started to serve better, so it was more difficult. But I’m very happy about the general performance today. I’m trying to play the best possible tennis, but today was a very good day in the office.”

During his post-match news conference, the 21-year-old Fils gave props to his worthy opponent, Sinner.

“He’s a great champion. He hasn’t lost one match since Indian Wells. He’s playing great, a lot of confidence. He hit the ball pretty clean from both sides, and he was serving very well,” Fils said.

“The first set was very good for him and a bit tough for me. I had to get used to his ball speed. It’s different when you play for a full match. I played some great, great opponents, but it’s still different [against Sinner]. When I’m stepping on the court against him, I feel like I play great tennis, but it’s not enough.”

Sinner won 88 percent (21 of 24) of his first-serve points – dropping just three points – and faced no break points. He finished with 17 winners – including four aces – and made 19 unforced errors. By comparison, Fils hit 10 winners and committed 24 unforced errors. Sinner outpointed Fils 62-47.

Fils will head to Rome next week after seeing his PIF ATP Live Ranking jump eight spots to No. 17 following his second ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.

“I knew it before the match: He is one of the best players in the world at the moment,” Sinner said in praising Fils. “I’m very happy that I played against him. He is very good for tennis, for the sport.”

Zverev remains in the chase for a third Madrid title

Meanwhile, World No. 3 and two-time (2018, 2021) Madrid champion Alexander Zverev of Germany was impressive in booking his return to the final in the Spanish capital city with his 6-2, 7-5 victory over the 21-year-old Alexander Blockx of Belgium, completed in one hour and 36 minutes. It was the first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal win this season for Zverev and he improved to 14-0 versus players ranked outside the Top 30 in Madrid.

From the outset, Zverev leveraged a pair of service breaks in the first and fifth games to win the opening set 6-2 in 42 minutes. He was the steadier player, hitting 16 winners – including five aces – and faced no break points.

Then, at 5-all in the second set, Zverev broke to go ahead on a lucky net-cord that capped a 12-shot rally. With Zverev a service game away from victory, he put away the semifinal win on his first match-point opportunity. The German No. 1 hit an overhead smash winner to finish a seven-shot rally for game, set, match against the 69th-ranked Blockx, who was competing in his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal, and raised his PIF ATP Live Ranking to No. 35 after achieving four Top-20 triumphs during April – three of them in Madrid – and all on clay.

Zverev finished the semifinal victory with 35 winners, won 85 percent (34 of 40) of his first-serve points and faced no break points. He converted three of 14 break-point opportunities against Blockx and outpointed him 79-57. Meanwhile, Blockx finished with 18 winners to 18 unforced errors. He won 72 percent (36 of 50) of his first-serve points.

With his semifinal victory, Zverev becomes the third man, after Rafael Nadal (8) and Roger Federer (5) to reach four Mutua Madrid Open finals, and he’s through to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 final on clay.

Come Sunday, Zverev will try to end an eight-match losing streak against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, who leads in their career head-to-head series 9-4. Zverev’s last win over Sinner was at the 2023 US Open in the round of 16. This will be their fourth meeting this season. Sinner has beaten Zverev in the semifinals of each of the last three ATP Masters 1000 events: Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.

“I am very happy to be in the final,” Zverev said during his on-court interview. “There were a lot of tough battles, especially at the start of the tournament. I am looking forward to playing Jannik again and looking forward to a tough match. The better player will win on Sunday.”

Around the Caja Magica

In doubles, No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, the only seeded team remaining in the semifinals, took on Luke Johnson of Great Britain and Jan Zielinski in the first semifinal and won by retirement, leading 6-4, 4-3 after 54 minutes. Heliovaara and Patten came in 22-4 with three titles won this season – at Adelaide, Doha and Dubai. Recently, they were finalists in Miami and quarterfinalists at Monte-Carlo – while Johnson and Zielinski were 11-10.

In the other semifinal, Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Manuel Guinard of France (18-8, one title at Indian Wells this season) defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina (11-10 in 2026), 6-4, 7-6 (3), in one hour and 43 minutes.

The men’s doubles final will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m. Madrid time, preceding the women’s singles final between No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 26 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, which begins not before 5 p.m. Madrid time.

By the numbers

There have been four players who have been finalists at both Spanish clay events – Barcelona and Madrid – in the same year. They are: Rafael Nadal (2009, 2011, 2013, 2017), Kei Nishikori (2014), Dominic Thiem (2017) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022-23).

“Quotable …”

“I never have [had] too much confidence on clay the last couple of years. But I think I cannot say that anymore with the results I am doing. I think I improved a lot on all my shots, my physicality. And I think the conditions here are a bit quicker than the usual clay, so that helps as well. But, yeah, I definitely like clay now.”

– Alexander Blockx of Belgium, during his post-match interview Thursday after defeating defending champion Casper Ruud to reach the Mutua Madrid Open semifinal round.

 

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