World number one Jannik Sinner remains on course for a record fifth consecutive Masters 1,000 title after reaching the Madrid Open final with a straight-set win over Arthur Fils.
The Italian won his 22nd successive match to reach his first Madrid final, where he will face second seed Alexander Zverev.
Sinner, 24, has won the opening three ATP 1,000 events of the season – in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo – and also triumphed in Paris last year.
If he claims a fifth Masters 1,000 title in a row on Sunday, Sinner would surpass Novak Djokovic, who won four consecutive events on three occasions, and Rafael Nadal, who clinched four straight tournaments in 2013.
Sinner has also become the fourth player – and the youngest – to reach all nine Masters 1,000 finals, joining Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer.
The Italian broke twice to take the first set of Friday’s semi-final 6-2 against 21st seed Fils, who won the clay-court Barcelona Open two weeks ago.
Fils, 21, was 3-2 up in the second set having saved two break points, but four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner finally broke to move 5-4 ahead and served out the match to progress 6-2 6-4.
Sinner becomes the third man to reach the final of the first four Masters 1,000 events of the season, after Federer (2006) and Nadal (2011), while his victory means he is the first player born in the 2000s to record 350 tour-level wins.
Later on Friday, world number three Zverev overcame unseeded Belgian Alexander Blockx 6-2 7-5 to reach the Madrid final for a fourth time.
Sinner and Zverev, 29, will now face off at a fifth consecutive Masters 1,000 event, with the German having lost in straight sets in four consecutive semi-final meetings.
Zverev, a winner in Madrid in 2018 and 2021, raced through the first set against 21-year-old Blockx, but had to be patient in the second, breaking in the 11th game before serving out the match.
Despite his defeat Blockx moves up 34 places to 35th in the ATP rankings, having previously beaten three seeds ranked in the top 20 to reach his first Masters 1,000 semi-final.
