Can Jannik Sinner, who pinned back Carlos Alcaraz, get his first win over Medvedev in the Beijing final?

The greatest show in men’s tennis these days is Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic. But Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner isn’t far behind. On Tuesday, the Spaniard and the Italian brought the seventh edition of their high-flying act—Janitos is my personal favorite dual name for their match-up—to Bejing. Before today, they were tied at 3-3 in their head-to-head, and they had also split their two meetings in 2023.

Beijing is an appropriate city and fan base for these two. Alcaraz and Sinner are famous for their hyper-sonic, circus-like rallies, and nobody responds to those quite like the Chinese, who are never afraid to vocalize their surprise and delight at a well-played point.

There was plenty for them to ooh and aah about in the opening stages of this semifinal. Alcaraz won one point with a three-shot, drop-lob-volley combination. Sinner won another by turning extreme defense into extreme offense, and closing it out on his third smash attempt. But in the controlled indoor conditions, the rallies were generally slam-bang affairs, with both guys driving the ball through the court and trying to gain the advantage as soon as possible.

On this day, that style of play ultimately favored Sinner. He jumped on Alcaraz as soon as he could, with his serve, his return and his follow-up ground stroke, and gave the Spaniard little time to employ two of his strengths, his drop shot and his volley. Alcaraz started well, earning an early 2-0 lead, and he had two break points to make it 3-0. Each time, though, he missed a forehand into the net. It was a foreshadowing of more misses to come.

The two traded service breaks and momentum swings through the first set, but eventually found their way to a tiebreaker. That’s where Sinner’s sharpness, and Alcaraz’s vulnerability, made themselves clear. At 5-4 in the breaker. Alcaraz missed another forehand into the net, and Sinner capitalized at set point with a blistering forehand return winner that drew a roar from the crowd.

That was essentially the match. Alcaraz could never find a groove, and continued to net his ground strokes. Sinner, meanwhile, kept the heat on, never let Alcaraz work his all-court magic, and broke him three times to close out the match 7-6 (4), 6-1. The harder the two men hit, the more success Sinner had, which is something you can’t normally say about an opponent of Alcaraz’s.

“The first set was very tough,” said Sinner, who saved seven of the nine break points he faced. “I think we were both playing much better in the return games. I think I had handled the situation well.”

Life doesn’t get any easier for Sinner tomorrow, when he’ll face Daniil Medvedev for the title. The Russian is 6-0 against the Italian. Just as daunting, he’s coming off one of his best performances of the season, in a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev on Tuesday.

Medvedev and Zverev had already met four times in 2023. In Indian Wells and Rome, Medvedev had come back from a set down to edge Zverev by the barest of margins, in the most dramatic and contentious of circumstances. In Cincinnati, though, it was Zverev who finally broke his losing streak, in an equally close three setter.

This time, Medvedev made sure there was little drama from the start. He hit eight aces, won 80 percent of his first-serve points, and made just one unforced error on the day. Even when Zverev had an advantage in a rally, he was never safe. Medvedev made one forehand pass from 10 feet behind the baseline, and another, at a crucial stage, after running at full speed to track down a drop shot.

In the end, all Zverev could do was join Medvedev in a smile at the net. There will be closer battles to come.

Will we see one on Wednesday, when Medvedev takes on Sinner? In their meetings this year, Medvedev won in three sets in Rotterdam, and straight sets in Miami. Medvedev has shown ability to absorb Sinner’s pace and keep the ball coming back—two things he does exceptionally well—while also winning free points with his superior serve.

What can Sinner do differently this time?

“Try to change a couple of things and hopefully they work,” he said with a smile.

Tennis can use all of the rivalries it can get. It would be nice to see Medvedev-Sinner become a competitive one.