World No 1 Jannik Sinner remains on course to win five straight Masters 1000 titles after swatting aside Arthur Fils to reach the Mutua Madrid Open final on Friday.
The 24-year-old Italian dismantled Frenchman Fils 6-2 6-4 to reach his fifth consecutive final at Masters 1000 level, completing a polished victory inside Manolo Santana Stadium after 85 minutes.
Entering the match on a nine-match winning streak, highlighted by his triumph in Barcelona, Fils was outclassed as Sinner delivered a razor-sharp performance.
"I tried to be very aggressive," said Sinner, who dropped just three of 24 first-serve points, and did not face a break point. "I felt very comfortable on the return. In the second set, he started to serve better, so it was more difficult.
"But I'm very happy about the general performance today. I'm trying to play the best possible tennis, but today was a very good day in the office."
Chasing his second clay-court title of the season, the Italian controlled the baseline exchanges and mixed in deft drop shots to hand Fils his first defeat on the surface this year.
The Frenchman offered more resistance in the second set, varying his play to stay in touch, but Sinner secured the decisive break before closing out the match in 85 minutes.
"I knew it before the match: He is one of the best players in the world at the moment," Sinner said of Fils.
"I'm very happy that I played against him. He is very good for tennis, for the sport."
Sinner will next face No 3 seed Alexander Zverev in a fifth consecutive Masters 1000 tournament after the German dominated unheralded Belgian Alexander Blockx 6-2 7-5 in their semi-final.
"I'm very happy to be in a final. There were a lot of tough battles, especially at the start of the tournament," said Zverev, who became the third man, after Federer and Nadal, to reach the Madrid final on four occasions.
"I am looking forward to playing Jannik again and looking forward to a tough match. The better player will win on Sunday.
"Tennis is very easy for him right now, the way he is playing. Maybe on Sunday I will make it a bit more difficult for him.
"The last eight times I didn't win much. He is the best player in the world for sure, and I will try to give him a tough battle."
Your Site' analyst Miles Maclagan said: "It turns out that it's another day at the office for Jannik Sinner, who was quite brilliant in that first set and then a little more workmanlike in the second. In a way, it was a harsh learning experience for Arthur Fils.
"The match underlined the gap between how good Fils is, how dangerous he is, to the very best, and he will improve. He will take stock and be a little frustrated with his performance but he wasn't really allowed to play, particularly in that first set. It was really spectacular from Sinner, who was clinical."
"It's the business end, isn't it? And it was all business from Sinner today," said former British doubles star, Colin Fleming. "That was a remarkable performance really."
With his victory, Sinner became only the fourth player to reach the final of all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments - after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal - and the youngest to achieve the feat.
He has now won 27 consecutive matches at this level, a streak that includes titles in Paris last year and Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo in 2026.
Andy Murray reached the final at eight, with the exception being Monte-Carlo.
Sinner is an eight-time Masters 1000 champion, having won his first title at this level in Toronto in 2023.
If he wins the title in Madrid, and then triumphs in Rome, Sinner would complete the career Golden Masters.
Record 40-time Masters 1000 champion Djokovic is the only player to have achieved the feat.
"One more final here, it's an amazing result," said Sinner to Your Site.
"For me, the most important was trying to raise my level today, which I've done, especially first set - very, very aggressive and I'm changing direction very well. I'm very happy to close it out in two and it means a lot to me, of course."
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