For the third straight time in 2025, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will clash in a Grand Slam final at the US Open.
That in itself is a record, one of many milestones this match-up, and its two combatants, have made possible in Sunday’s decider.
It’s also the continuation of the game’s hottest rivalry, with both looking to outperform the other after splitting their Grand Slam final meetings this year.
“It's great for the sport having rivalries, having hopefully great matches in front of us,” said Sinner, who beat Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. “I'm someone who loves these challenges, and I love to put myself in these positions and to see how it goes.”
Added Alcaraz, who saved three championship points to beat Sinner in the Roland Garros final: “I always take things about the previous matches. The last one or the last three matches, I'm going to take note, and I will see what I did wrong, what I did great in the matches, just to approach the final in a good way. Let's see.”
Jannik Sinner
Sinner’s win over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday night ensured another blockbuster major final against Alcaraz. It also saw him join some legends of the sport.
Sinner becomes just the fourth man in the Open era to reach all four Grand Slam finals in one season, after Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
He also appeared in last year’s US Open final, meaning he has progressed to five consecutive Grand Slam finals – something only the ‘Big Three’ of Djokovic, Federer and Rafael Nadal have achieved.
“I think five straight Grand Slam finals, it's something great,” said Sinner, citing this as his most satisfying stat. “The consistency and putting myself there in the later stages of the biggest tournaments we have, it's amazing.”
Sinner won last year’s US Open, meaning he is one win away from becoming the first man in 17 years to defend his singles title in New York. Federer did this most recently, in 2008.
He’s currently on a 27-match hardcourt Grand Slam winning streak, equalling Djokovic’s best streak at hardcourt majors and trailing only Federer’s record mark of 40.
Sinner could become just the second man, after Federer at Australian Open 2007, to win four consecutive hardcourt majors. Federer ultimately won five in a row at the 2007 US Open.
With a win over Alcaraz, Sinner could improve to 72-4 on hard courts since the beginning of 2024 – a success rate of almost 95 per cent. He is currently 18-1 on hard courts in 2025.
Sinner has won 110 of the 120 total matches he has played since the beginning of 2024.
Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz was the first of the pair through to the US Open final, after beating Djokovic in straight sets in Friday's first semifinal.
And in what is shaping as the most consistent period of his career, it marks an eighth straight tournament final for the young Spaniard.
This marks his seventh major final, but it's the first time Alcaraz has progressed to this stage of a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set.
He could become the first man in the Open era to win the US Open without losing any sets.
Victory would see him win his second US Open title (also 2022), after back-to-back titles at Wimbledon (2023-24) and consecutive French titles in 2024 and 2025. Just six other men have won three different Grand Slam titles at least twice in the Open era: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg.
Alcaraz has won 45 of his past 47 matches dating back to the start of April. His only losses came to Sinner in the Wimbledon final, and Holger Rune in the final of Barcelona.
A win over Sinner would give Alcaraz a tour-high 60th match win in 2025.
‘Sincaraz’ rivalry
Sinner and Alcaraz are the first men’s duo to contest more than two Grand Slam finals in one season in the Open era.
The last time this happened in any year was 1964, when Australians Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle clashed in the Australian, Wimbledon and US finals.
By meeting in the US Open final, world No.1 Sinner and world No.2 Alcaraz have ensured all four men’s major finals in 2025 have featured the world’s top two players – an ATP rankings first.
Although Alcaraz leads the overall head-to-head 9-5, the gap narrows in Grand Slam meetings, with Alcaraz holding a 3-2 lead.
In two of those five meetings – US Open 2022 and Roland Garros 2025 – Sinner held match points before Alcaraz rebounded to win.
Regardless of who wins on Sunday, either Sinner or Alcaraz will have won the past eight Grand Slam titles dating back to AO 2024. Only two other ‘duopolies’ – Federer-Nadal, and Djokovic-Nadal – have combined to win more consecutive majors in the Open era.
The winner of Sunday’s Sinner v Alcaraz US Open final will be ranked world No.1.