World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz survived a major scare in the Japan Open semi-finals, coming from a set down to beat Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Despite being “mad with myself” over the first set’s errors, the Spaniard recovered to secure his 66th win of the season and reach his ninth consecutive ATP-level final—a feat previously achieved only by Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.
Alcaraz will face American Taylor Fritz in the final, who defeated Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-3, praising his “insanely well” serving performance.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, World No. 2 Jannik Sinner advanced to the China Open semi-finals with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Fabian Marozsan.
Sinner dominated the first set but had to fight back in the second after falling awkwardly and going down a break, immediately recovering to secure his 40th tour-level win of the year. The Italian will next meet third seed Alex de Minaur.
In other China Open results, Daniil Medvedev defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-3, and American teen Learner Tien reached his first ATP semi-final after Lorenzo Musetti retired.
