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<\/p>\nJannik Sinner shakes hands with Carlos Alcaraz<\/p>\n
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Jannik Sinner took the advantage in his sparkling rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz after dumping the top seed out of the China Open in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
The pair had shared their opening six matches, including a US Open quarter-final that was arguably the best contest of last year.<\/p>\n
The first set in Beijing featured a succession of brilliant, hard-hitting rallies, with 22-year-old Italian Sinner twice coming from a break down to take it on a tie-break.<\/p>\n
And Alcaraz, 20, was unable to match his young rival in the second set, the errors beginning to flow in a 7-6 (4) 6-1 victory for Sinner, who struggled with sickness during his quarter-final on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery match against him is very tough,\u201d said the Italian. \u201cWe always show great respect. When we play against each other we try to stay on our limits and today I played a little bit better in the important moments.<\/p>\n
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\u201cToday it was my day and let\u2019s see in the next meeting what\u2019s coming. I always enjoy to play against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very very proud. First set was very tough. I tried to stay focused. I\u2019m obviously very happy about the result.<\/p>\n
In the final, Sinner will take on second seed Daniil Medvedev, who again showed his hard-court prowess in a 6-4 6-3 win against Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow I have obviously a very tough match against an opponent I never want. Hopefully it\u2019s gonna be a good time,\u201d Sinner added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll try to change a couple of things. I never won against him. It\u2019s another great opportunity for me to show my best tennis, trying to change a few things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully they work. If they don\u2019t, then there\u2019s another time hopefully. I\u2019m very focused about tomorrow and hopefully it\u2019s gonna be a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof are through to the doubles final after a 7-6 (3) 6-2 win over Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev and will take on top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Australian Marc Polmans was defaulted from his qualifying match at the Shanghai Masters for hitting the umpire in the face with a ball.<\/p>\n
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Angry at not converting a match point against Italian Stefano Napolitano, Polmans smashed a ball hard towards the stands but struck British official Ben Anderson in a virtual replay of an incident involving Canadian Denis Shapovalov during a Davis Cup clash with Great Britain in 2017.<\/p>\n
The umpire on that occasion, Arnaud Gabas, was left with a fractured eye socket. Thankfully, Anderson appears to have escaped serious injury, with a tournament representative saying he was struck on the cheek and nose and had returned to his hotel to rest.<\/p>\n