Sinner crushes Zverev to reach Paris Masters final, brink of No.1
“I saw it straight away from the first couple of points that he was struggling physically,” Sinner saidSinner will replace rival Carlos Alcaraz at the top of the rankings if he beats Auger-Aliassime on SundayPARIS: Jannik Sinner moved to within one win of reclaiming the world number one ranking with a 6-0, 6-1 dismantling of an ailing Alexander Zverev in the Paris Masters semifinals on Saturday, setting up a final clash with Felix Auger-Aliassime.The Italian raced to a remarkable thrashing of reigning champion Zverev at La Defense Arena in just 61 minutes.“I saw it straight away from the first couple of points that he was struggling physically,” the 24-year-old Sinner said after a fourth straight win over Zverev.“It’s not the way you want to win a match but at the same time for me personally I’m happy to be in the final, it means a lot.”Sinner will replace rival Carlos Alcaraz at the top of the rankings if he beats Auger-Aliassime on Sunday.Canada’s Auger-Aliassime reached the second Masters 1000 final of his career by beating in-form Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the first semifinal.Sinner and Auger-Aliassime have split their four previous meetings, although the world number two has won the past two including in this year’s US Open semifinals.“It’s always good to play him,” Auger-Aliassime said of facing Sinner.“I feel like he pushes players to be very, very disciplined tactically and to execute their game almost perfectly in order to win.”Four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner is now on a 25-match winning streak on indoor hard courts.He is targeting his fifth title of the season after last weekend adding the Vienna Open trophy to his Australian Open, Wimbledon and China Open triumphs from earlier in the year.“It’s going to