Jannik Sinner cruises past Novak Djokovic at Six Kings Slam: Books another final against Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner secured a comfortable victory over Novak Djokovic to advance to the final of the Six Kings Slam, defeating him 6-4, 6-2—curiously, the same score that his final opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, achieved against Taylor Fritz in the first semifinal.

This was the first encounter between Sinner and Djokovic since the Wimbledon semifinals, where the Italian won in straight sets. In fact, a year ago, they also faced each other in the Six Kings Slam semifinals, but on that occasion, it was a much closer fight that had to be decided in the third set.

Sinner's win guarantees a new final between Sinner and Alcaraz—although this time it is an exhibition and does not count in the official head-to-head. Nevertheless, Alcaraz will seek revenge from the 2024 Six Kings Slam, where Sinner took the victory (6-7, 6-3, 6-3) and the multi-million dollar prize of $4.5 million, which the tournament champion receives.

There were expectations about what might happen in Djokovic's return to the court after a painful defeat at the Shanghai Masters. The 24-time Grand Slam champion seemed like a favorite to win another important title in his career (taking advantage of the mass exit of favorites in the initial rounds) but was surprised by Monaco's Valentin Vacherot in the semifinals.

Sinner—who had withdrawn from Shanghai last week due to an injury—successfully debuted at the Six Kings Slam by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, and this time against Djokovic, he was clearly superior again to advance and seek to defend his title in Riyadh against his classic rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic had shown in Shanghai that one of his greatest strengths at this stage of his career is maintaining consistency with his serve, habitually maintaining a consistency close to 80% of points won on his first serve. However, against Sinner, things were not so simple, as the Italian is currently one of the best returners on the Tour.

After an initial hold by both players, the first break opportunity appeared for the Italian, who quickly capitalized on it and took the lead in the first set. Sinner didn't have to do much more on return and relied on his serve until the end of the set. The 4-time major champion had 9 aces and a 78% first-serve-in, winning 85% of those points. Sinner actually gave away only 4 points on his serve in the entire set and was much more aggressive than his opponent with 18 winners against only 6 for 'Nole' to take the set 6-4.

In the second set, Djokovic could not rediscover his level, and he met an implacable Sinner whenever the chances arose. An early break put the Italian up, who quickly led 2-0. A few minutes later, another opportunity arrived for Sinner, and he secured the second break. Although Djokovic managed a couple of break chances in the sixth game, Sinner managed to hold on without complications to take the victory 6-4, 6-2 in just one hour and 3 minutes.

Sinner and Alcaraz will meet again after 15 official duels—the last 6 of them in finals. This time it is an exhibition and does not count in the official tally (like the clash in the 2024 edition of the Six Kings Slam), but Alcaraz cannot be overlooked as the favorite on this occasion, having taken 7 of the last 8 encounters between them.

In fact, they have played 6 consecutive finals in official matches, with Alcaraz winning 5 of them (including Roland Garros and the US Open), while Sinner was victorious only at Wimbledon. Their last official match was at the US Open, where Carlitos had no trouble defeating Sinner in four sets.