Tennis-Solid Sinner breezes past Bublik to book semi-final spot
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 4, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner celebrates winning his quarter final match against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
PARIS (Reuters) -World number one Jannik Sinner marched ahead in his relentless pursuit of a maiden French Open title with a typically efficient 6-1 7-5 6-0 win over Kazakh showman Alexander Bublik to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals on Wednesday.
The near-flawless victory ensured Sinner became the first Italian man to make six Grand Slam semi-finals and extended his winning run at the majors to 19 matches after his triumphs at last year's U.S. Open and the Australian Open in January.
The retraction of Court Philippe Chatrier's roof after a cold, rainy morning signalled the opening of the floodgates as Sinner raced away to a 5-0 lead before Bublik got on the board and immediately threatened to break the top seed.
Sinner snuffed out his challenge to win the first set with ease but the 23-year-old ran into trouble in the next set when Bublik pulled out trademark drop shots from his bag of tricks and worked his opponent harder to stay level after 10 games.
An untimely dip allowed Sinner to pounce and the three-time Grand Slam champion broke before holding comfortably to stop the brave comeback of his 62nd-ranked opponent and double his own advantage in the contest.
The one-way traffic resumed in the third set, where Bublik hit a failed underarm serve while trying to avoid going a double break down, before Sinner tightened his grip to seal the win and book a clash with either Alexander Zverev or Novak Djokovic.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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