No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy needed just 66 minutes to show No. 25 seed Learner Tien the door, prevailing 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday in Indian Wells, Calif.
Sinner set up a semifinal date with No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who bounced No. 30 seed Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 6-3.
In the two late matches Thursday, No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will take on British 27th seed Cameron Norrie and Russian 11th seed Daniil Medvedev will battle British No. 14 Jack Draper.
Sinner fired 10 aces by Tien and benefited from the 20-year-old’s five double faults. Sinner dropped just five points on his first serve and went 4-for-4 on saving break points.
Tien, a California native, was the only American man to make the final eight at Indian Wells. It was Tien’s first quarterfinal at an ATP 1000 event, six weeks removed from his run to the Australian Open quarters.
“He is a very talented player,” Sinner said of Tien. “He will be here many times, but I’m happy how I reacted. I feel like he was very aggressive, especially in the beginning, so I tried to hold back. An important match for me of course.”
Sinner, who’s won four Grand Slams since the start of 2024, is vying for his first Indian Wells title.
Standing in his way next is Zverev, who flashed a great return game against Fils, winning the point on close to half of Fils’ serves (33 of 71, 46.5%). Zverev saved all three break points he faced.
The German has now reached the semifinals at least once at all nine current ATP 1000 tournaments.
“It’s very special to be one of five players in history to ever do it,” Zverev said. “For sure, yeah, it’s something that I’m very proud of.”
–Field Level Media
