Jannik Sinner marched past Jiri Lehecka to the semi-finals of the China Open as rumours over his ongoing drugs case continue to fly.
The 23-year-old notched up his 58th win of the season to move one ahead of world number two Alexander Zverev.
Jannik Sinner was forced to comeback twice in his opening matches against Nicolas Jarry and Roman Safiullin in Beijing.
Moreover, during his second-round match against Safiullin, it was announced that the Italian’s originally escaped drugs ban had been appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Sinner twice tested positive for clostebol in March but was later cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in August.
However, WADA have since lodged an appeal against that verdict and called for the Italian to face a ban of at least one year – Sinner responded earlier this week saying he was ‘surprised’ at the new ruling.
Nonetheless, the top seed used his resolve to muscle through to the last four, with Jiri Lehecka comprehensively beaten in straight sets.
Jannik Sinner explains his mental approach on the ATP Tour
Sinner has extended his unbeaten streak to 14 dating back to the start of the Cincinnati Open.
The Italian has also built on his record against players outside of the world’s top 20, and is now undefeated in 50 straight matches against them.
After the victory, Sinner said on-court: “We always try to improve day by day and I feel like the result is coming in what level you’re playing throughout the season, how consistent you are as a player.
“You also have to be ready mentally to do that. So we just try to stay in the present moment. We know what we have done this season, which is great for me. But every match we see we can improve, which is very good.
“I felt like I had some chances in the second set a little bit before, I couldn’t use them,” Sinner added to the ATP. “But then it gets a bit tricky, I was serving [at] five-all, he had a couple of break points, but then I served well fortunately.
“And [in a] tie-break everything can happen. I was down and then I returned very well on 4/6, served well on 5/6. So happy how I handled a tough situation. Feel like I still can improve a couple of things here so hopefully tomorrow is going to be that day when I feel better on the court.”
The Italian has now won 16 of his last 17 tie-breaks and faces Chinese breakout star Yu Buyunchaokete for a spot in the final.
Jannik Sinner continues to somehow block out the noise
With allegations and rumours swirling around, the only player who actually seems unfazed by it is Sinner himself.
Carlos Alcaraz sent Sinner a message after the news of his WADA ruling broke, with the Spaniard taking a classy and sympathetic approach.
While there is no doubt Sinner will be frustrated and upset by the latest set-back, his on-court form has remained truly remarkable. A superb run to his maiden US Open title came after a similarly steely run in the midwest.
Having had some time off between his exploits in New York, the Italian has arrived in Beijing with real intent and a champion’s mindset.
Potentially preparing for either a rematch from 12 months ago against Daniil Medevdev or a showdown against Alcaraz, the world number one is looking pretty unflappable.
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