Jannik Sinner has become the first teenager in 14 years to reach the Miami Open final after a rousing victory over seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
The 19-year-old from Italy trailed 3-1 in the final set before winning five of the last six games to complete a 5-7 6-4 6-4 victory, his second straight win over Bautista Agut in the past month.
Sinner, who his projected to rise to world No.21 with his latest win, will face Hubert Hurkacz in Sunday’s final for the biggest title of his career.
Hurkacz later on Friday surprised No.4 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4 to advance to his first ATP Masters final.
Bautista Agut, who upset No.1 seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals, had multiple opportunities to advance to his just his second ever Masters-level final throughout a 15-year pro career.
After taking the first set, the Spaniard in the second set led 0-40 in the seventh game and 0-30 in the ninth game, only for Sinner to escape from those precarious positions each time.
He also came within two points of a 4-1 lead in the final set.
But Sinner’s calmness under pressure, impressive for someone so young and inexperienced, shone through.
“I just tried to stick into there because when you go 4-3 down with break, it’s never easy to come back. Is always possible to come back obviously, but, you know, I just tried to sticking to there,” Sinner explained.
“I didn’t serve that well in this game (in the second set), but I think the rallies I played I played in the right way. I went twice to the net.
“Obviously you prefer to don’t come to that point or you prefer to serve a little bit better, but … just trying to keep fighting. I think obviously that game helped me a little bit in the match.”
He became just the fourth teenager – after Andre Agassi (1990), Rafael Nadal (2005) and Novak Djokovic (2007) – to advance to the Miami Open final in the tournament’s 36-year history.
Sinner’s rapid rise
Sinner’s ascent in the game has been meteoric.
At the end of 2018 he was ranked No.763, yet just 12 months later he was already inside the top 100 after winning three Challenger titles and almost 60 matches in a brilliant 2019 season.
After a slow start to 2020, Sinner caught fire when tennis resumed after its five-month COVID-19 suspension, reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals and winning his first ATP title in Sofia to enter the top 40.
He captured a second ATP title earlier this season at the Great Ocean Road Open and has now won 29 of his past 37 matches.
“Everything it sometimes can change everything fast. I had a great run (in 2019) when I played Bergamo (Challenger) … and then I won a couple of tournaments that year, which sometimes can give a little bit of confidence,” said Sinner, reflecting on his path.
“Obviously, you don’t think about playing big tournaments on that point because the road is long, your ranking is not there.
“Here I felt well from the beginning of the week on court. I think obviously it’s a great result here, but first I have one more match in front of me.”
World No.37 Hurkacz dominated his semifinal against Rublev, racing to a 5-1 lead in the first set and breaking serve in the first game of the second set to take a commanding position.
He reached match point in the eighth game, only for Rublev to save it with a swinging volley winner. And the Russian then looked poised to work his way back into the contest when he earned three break chances as Hurkacz attempted to serve out the match.
Each time, the Pole played brave tennis to deny the Russian, and eventually closed out the match with his 16th forehand winner.
“It means a lot, especially after winning the (Delray Beach) title beginning of the year, I had a couple of rough matches, so I’m so happy I came over and I was still trying to improve my game,” said Hurkacz, who finished with 25 winners overall to Rublev’s 14.
“It’s really huge for me.”