ATP Rome Masters: Alcaraz Lik Musetti, Sinner against Paulo

On May 16, local time, the 2025 ATP 1000 Rome Masters began the men's singles semifinals, with top seed Sinner reversing No. 11 seed Paul 1-6/6-0/6-3, and No. 3 seed Alcaraz defeating No. 8 seed Musetti 6-3/7-6 (4).

Alcaraz

Photo: Visual China

Alcaraz will take on homegrown sensation Musetti and both players have been in fine form this year's clay season, beating Musetti in the final of last month's Monte Carlo Masters to win the tournament for the first time. In this match, Alcaraz took the lead with two breaks in the opening game, and although Musetti fought hard to catch up, Alcaraz still took the lead with one more break advantage; In the second set, it was Musetti who took the lead first, and Alcaraz stubbornly broke back at the crucial moment, dragged the match into a tie-break, and won the victory in straight sets with excellent key point grasp.

This is Alcaraz's first run to the men's singles final at the Rome Masters and his eighth Masters final, after his record in the final was 6-1. In his post-match interview, Alcaraz said: "Today I didn't want to play a great tennis game, I wanted to play smart, I had to play steady, I had to wait for my chance. I feel like I'm doing a good job with that today, and I'm able to stay mentally strong even when things don't work against me. ”

Sinner

Photo: Visual China

Alcaraz will face his old rival Sinner across the net in the final. Sinner's form continued unabated after returning from the ban, winning in straight sets in the first four matches of the semi-finals. In this match, Sinner played erratically in the first set, losing 1-6 after only 28 minutes; In the second set, Sinner was completely inspired by the sound of local fans, and sounded the horn of reversal with a wave of offensive wins of 9 games in a row. In the deciding set, Paul also broke back and closed the score, but Sinner's gradual improvement made it impossible for him to recover.

It was also Sinner's first men's singles final at the Rome Masters, having won 4-2 in his previous six Masters finals. Sinner revealed after the game that his foot had blistered at the start of the third round, which affected his movement. "I really struggled today and then I found a way and beat a very strong opponent, which makes me happy. I'll have to improve my form in Sunday's final to get a fight, so tomorrow's recovery is important and I'm definitely not going to train too much, but I'm going to get used to it. ”

Alcaraz and Sinner have played each other 11 times before, holding the upper hand with 7 wins and 4 losses, and have won three in a row in the last three meetings. It is worth mentioning that Sinner is currently on a 26-match winning streak in singles across seasons on tour and 11 consecutive wins against top 10 players, both of which were started after losing to Alcaraz in last year's China Open final.

Gauff

Photo: Visual China

Paulini

Photo: Visual China

Today, the Women's Singles final in Rome will be the first to take place, with No.4 seed Gauff and No.6 seed Paulini battling it out for their first WTA1000 clay title. Gauff has the upper hand at 2-1 in the head-to-head record, but Paulini defeated Gauff in straight sets at the WTA Stuttgart last month. The final will kick off at 23:00 Beijing time tonight, with the two Men's Doubles semi-finals to be played first.

(Text and editor: Dato)