Jannik Sinner storms past Frances Tiafoe, into Miami Open semifinals

Jannik Sinner continued his march towards a first Sunshine Double, the BNP Paribas Open champion storming past Frances Tiafoe, 6-2, 6-2 at the Miami Open on Thursday.

The No. 2 seed has now won 30 consecutive sets on the Masters 1000 level—bettering Novak Djokovic’s previous record of 24—and rarely looked troubled on Stadium Court against the No. 19th-seeded Tiafoe to advance in one hour and 10 minutes.

Sinner kicked off the Sunshine Swing decidedly in the shadow of world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who had made an unbeaten start to the 2026 season after victories at the Australian Open and Qatar ExxonMobil Open. But Sinner has returned to his high level of hard-court excellence in the month of March, winning his first Indian Wells title and arriving to the Hard Rock Stadium in search of a second Miami trophy.

The world No. 2 became the odds-on favorite when Alcaraz exited in the third round to Sebastian Korda, but Sinner has showed no signs of additional pressure in his run to the last eight, defeating No. 30 seed Corentin Moutet and American Alex Michelsen in straight sets to book a sixth career meeting with Tiafoe.

A former Top 10 player, Tiafoe scored his first win over Sinner back in 2021 on the indoor courts in Vienna. Though he had not taken a set in their two subsequent meetings, the 28-year-old won one of the most consequential matches of the tournament when he dethroned defending champion Jakub Mensik in the third round—toppling the No. 12 seed in a third-set tiebreaker.

Following that up with another three-setter against friendly rival Terence Atmane, Tiafoe was in for a significantly bigger challenge against Sinner to kick off play on Thursday. He found himself on the back foot early, losing serve in the first game of the match.

Tiafoe struggled mightily to make a dent on the Sinner serve, not even taking the Italian to deuce until he was down a set and a break, but Sinner was undaunted, holding on and scoring an insurance break to find himself serving for a spot in the semifinals.

Sinner surged to triple match point with a well-struck backhand, and quickly converted the first to reach the last four in just over an hour.

Awaiting him in the semis will be the winner of the tournament’s final quarterfinal match between No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev (Sinner leads 7-4) and No. 18 seed Francisco Cerundolo (Sinner leads 4-2).