Sinner & Alcaraz set up huge Italian Open final

World number one Jannik Sinner will face Carlos Alcaraz in the Italian Open final.

Sinner beat American Tommy Paul after a slow start. He won 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 in his first tournament since a three-month doping ban.

Playing on home clay in Rome, Sinner extended his unbeaten streak to 26 matches. He is now one win away from being the first Italian man to win this tournament since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

The match began poorly for Sinner. Paul quickly took a 5-0 lead and won the first set. Sinner made 13 unforced errors and only two winners during that set.

However, everything changed at the start of the second set. Sinner dominated Paul, winning nine consecutive games. Paul could not recover from this momentum shift.

Earlier on Friday, Alcaraz ended hopes for an all-Italian final by defeating Lorenzo Musetti. He won with scores of 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Alcaraz is looking strong ahead of the French Open later this month. The four-time Grand Slam champion reached his fourth final of the season in just over two hours.

For Musetti, this was his fifth straight loss to Alcaraz. They had also met on clay last month in Monte Carlo.

Musetti struggled with three breaks of serve and made 29 unforced errors in the first set. He received a warning after slamming his racquet into the clay.

In the second set, both players exchanged breaks early on. Musetti led 4-3 at one point with impressive shots but lost focus afterward.

Alcaraz broke back in game eight, prompting Musetti to smash a ball into the stands out of frustration.

Despite this, Alcaraz remained calm and won the tie-breaker. This victory sets up an exciting final on Sunday that many tennis fans anticipated.