World No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Monday defied the controversy surrounding his doping case to join Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev in the China Open semi-finals.
The defending champion will face either Andrey Rublev or Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete after defeating Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) for his 14th win in a row.
The 23-year-old is under the microscope after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on Saturday said it was seeking a ban of up to two years after he twice tested positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared the Italian of wrongdoing in August and allowed him to continue playing, and weeks later he won the US Open for his second major title.
The ITIA accepted Sinner’s explanation that the drug entered his system when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.
Wada has appealed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
On the tennis court, the top seed recovered from a set down to win his first two matches in Beijing but he made a fast start against the 37th-ranked Lehecka from the Czech Republic.
Sinner surged through the first set of their quarter-final but there was little between them in the second as they traded some thunderous groundstrokes. They went to a tie break, where Sinner saved two set points on the way to victory.
World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semi-finals for the second straight year after an impressive 7-5, 6-2 victory against Karen Khachanov.
The 21-year-old Spaniard was characteristically relentless from the baseline and ground down the No. 27-ranked Khachanov’s service games and converted four of 12 service break opportunities to win in 96 minutes.
“I always try to put some pressure when they’re serving just to in a certain way tell them that I’m going to be there,” Alcaraz said.
“If they want to win the service game or to beat me, they have to accept the battle and playing a really good tennis. For me, it’s what I’m trying to show them all the time.”
It was Alcaraz’s 46th win of the season and the victory allowed the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion to climb back above the absent Alexander Zverev into second place in the ATP live rankings.
Alcaraz will face Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals, after the fifth-ranked Russian beat Flavio Cobolli of Italy
6-2, 6-4.
Medvedev, still looking for his first title of the year, made 16 fewer unforced errors than the Italian and converted four of his eight breakpoint opportunities as he closed out a solid 88-minute victory.
Earlier, Andrey Rublev beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-5 in a match that was carried over from Sunday because of a rain delay.
On a roll
Amonng women, Aryna Sabalenka’s dominant hard-court season showed no signs of slowing down as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ashlyn Krueger for her 14th consecutive victory.
The three-time grand slam winner started her streak with a title at Cincinnati in August and continued with a run to the championship at the US Open earlier this month. She also won the Australian Open earlier in the year.
The second-ranked Sabalenka converted five of her seven breakpoint opportunities in a lopsided contest against Krueger and will next face Madison Keys, hoping to equal her career-best 15 consecutive victories set in
2020-21.
“Well, maybe right now, like, I’m not playing my best tennis,” Sabalenka said.
“But I think the way I’m controlling my emotions and the way I’m holding myself sometimes really helping me to stay in most of the matches.”
Keys had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Beatrice Haddad Maia of Brazil.
Former No. 1 Naomi Osaka continued her positive start with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Katie Volynets, advancing to a round-of-16 match against sixth-ranked Coco Gauff.
It will be the first meeting between the two Grand Slam champions in more than two years, with the head-to-head series tied at 2-2.
