Jannik Sinner hits Joao Fonseca during their fourth round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. 2nd seed Jannik Sinner (Italy) allowed 25th seed Leaner Tien to advance to the final in 66 minutes. He won 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open held in Indian Wells, California on the 23rd.
Sinner advanced to the semifinals against fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, who defeated 30th-seeded Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 6-3.
In the latter two matches on Thursday, Spain’s No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz faces Britain’s 27th seed Cameron Norrie and Russia’s 11th seed Daniil Medvedev faces Britain’s 14th seed Jack Draper.
Sinner fired 10 aces to Tien and benefited from the 20-year-old’s five double faults. Sinner dropped just five points on her first serve and went 4-for-4 in saving break points.
Tien, a California native, was the only American to advance to the final eight at Indian Wells. It was Tien’s first quarterfinal at an ATP 1000 event, six weeks removed from qualifying for the Australian Open quarters.
“He’s a very talented player,” Sinner said of Tien. “He will come here many times but I am happy with how I reacted. Especially in the beginning he seemed very aggressive so I tried to be patient. Of course it was an important match for me.”
Sinner, who has won four Grand Slams since the start of 2024, is competing for her first Indian Wells title.
Next in his path is Zverev, who produced a stunning comeback against Fils, winning points on almost half of Fils serves (33 of 71, 46.5%). Zverev saved all three break points he faced.
Germany has now reached the semifinals at least once in all nine ATP 1000 tournaments.
“It’s a very special thing to be one of five players in history to have done this,” Zverev said. “That’s for sure. It’s something I’m very proud of.”
–Field level media
