Carlos Alcaraz snaps Jannik Sinner’s 19-match winning streak to return to Indian Wells final

In a highly-anticipated clash between two of the brightest young stars in the sport, Carlos Alcaraz has defeated Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of Indian Wells, battling back from a first-set blow-out to snap the Italian’s incredible 19-match winning streak, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Sinner’s last loss had come on November 19th, 2023, falling to Novak Djokovic in the final of the ATP Finals. That was all of 118 days ago—after that he won three Davis Cup matches to close out the year, then got off to a blistering 16-0 start to this year, capturing titles at the Australian Open and Rotterdam and reaching the semifinals here.

And it looked like he would keep the streak going on Saturday, too, as he stormed through the first set in 36 minutes. But Alcaraz had other ideas, breaking for a 3-1 lead in the second set and holding from there until they headed to a third set—he then broke in the third game of the decider, and again in the fifth game, en route to victory.

“I stayed strong mentally. I think that’s a really important part in this game,” Alcaraz said after the match. “You have to be strong mentally if you want to overcome these kinds of matches, a set down against someone who’s playing an unbelievable game. I’m really happy with the things I’ve done after that, changing my style a little bit, changing my game a little bit. I think it worked very, very well today.

“I’m really, really happy to beat Jannik, and to be in the final again.”

It was Alcaraz’s 11th win in a row at Indian Wells—he’s into his second straight final in tennis paradise, having won the title last year.

He also evens up his tour-level head-to-head against Sinner, 4-4.

And he’ll keep his No. 2 ranking, as well—Sinner, who’s currently No. 3, would have passed him on the ATP rankings on Monday had he won.

Both players had the same amount of winners on Saturday—19—but Alcaraz was by far the steadier of the two, hitting 14 fewer unforced errors, 24 to 38. The Spaniard's forehand was the shot of the day, numbers-wise, with 16 winners to 11 unforced errors. Meanwhile, the Sinner forehand produced 10 winners to 27 unforced errors.

Both players were strong on break points, Alcaraz 3/6 and Sinner 2/4.

Alcaraz’s victory over the No. 3-ranked Sinner was also the milestone 25th Top 10 win of his career—and he’s still only 20 years old.

Awaiting the Spaniard in the final on Sunday will be No. 4-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who also rallied from a first-set blow-out to win his semifinal match against American Tommy Paul, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Alcaraz leads Medvedev in their head-to-head, 3-2, which includes a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory in the Indian Wells final a year ago. They’ve played three times since then, all last year, with Alcaraz winning in the semifinals of Wimbledon, Medvedev winning in the semifinals of the US Open and Alcaraz winning in the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals.

This is only the second time in Indian Wells history that the same two men will play each other in the final in back-to-back years, after Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in back-to-back finals in 2014 and 2015.