Italian teenager Jannik Sinner rallied past Spanish seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut at the Miami Open on Friday to book a meeting with Hubert Hurkacz in the biggest final of his young career.
Sinner, who reached last year’s French Open quarter-finals, defeated Bautista 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to become only the fourth teen to reach the men’s final in the 36-year history of the ATP Miami Masters.
Poland’s Hurkacz, seeded 26th, won his second straight match over a top-10 player, beating Russian fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4.
Photo: AP
Coming off a quarter-final win over second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hurkacz became the first player to take a set off Rublev at the tournament.
It is the first time he has earned two top-10 wins in the same tournament.
Sinner, 19 and playing only his third Masters 1000, joined 1990 champion Andre Agassi, 2005 runner-up Rafael Nadal and 2007 winner Novak Djokovic as Miami teen finalists.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Today we both showed great tennis,” Sinner said. “It was not easy. It was a little bit windy as well. I’m very happy about my performance today.”
Sinner took his eighth career triumph over a top-20 rival and ensured he will rise into the ATP’s top 25 next week, although he nearly smashed a racket in a tense second set.
“Sometimes you get the frustration going, but just trying to stay calm, which is how I am normally,” Sinner said. “Sometimes you have to scream or do something else, but don’t break racket. Please let me don’t break racket.”
Sinner is seeking his third career ATP title after last year at Sofia and February in an Australian Open tuneup at Melbourne.
As excited as he was at reaching the final, he kept a long-term perspective about what it meant for his career.
“This kind of stuff can help you a lot. It’s good to be in finals here, but it doesn’t mean anything,” Sinner said. “The road is very long and I want to improve day after day and we’ll see what’s coming.”
Bautista Agut predicted a great future for Sinner.
“He has a great future coming up. He has everything,” Bautista Agut told reporters. “He has a big serve, he’s tall, he’s big, he moves well, he has very good groundstrokes. Well, mentally he’s also great and improving.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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