Jannik Sinner sets up China Open final with Carlos Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner brushed aside the controversy surrounding his steroid case and overcame the challenge of a raucous home crowd to secure a spot in the China Open final against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. The world number one and reigning champion beat China's 96th-ranked wildcard, Bu Yunchaokete, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), narrowly avoiding an upset. In the other semi-final, the Italian will now face Spanish second seed Alcaraz, who showcased his skills in a 7-5, 6-3 win over Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev.

Jannik Sinner beats Bu Yunchaokete to enter China Open final

Playing on China's national day in front of a packed audience, US Open champion Sinner was up against Bu for the first time, with the Chinese player competing in the most important match of his career. The 22-year-old Bu was enjoying an impressive run, having also reached the semi-finals of the tournament in Hangzhou last week.

In the first set, Bu managed to put Sinner under pressure during the Italian's early service games, but Sinner held firm, and the momentum gradually shifted in his favor as the set progressed. The second set led to a tiebreak, where Sinner clinched the victory by serving an ace on his third match point, wrapping up the contest after just over two hours. At 23 years old, Sinner has won more matches on tour this season than anyone else. Despite failing two doping tests in March, he was cleared of any wrongdoing and allowed to continue playing.

However, the case has come alive again as the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed to the Court of Arbitration of Sports. WADA has called for a two-year ban on Jannik Sinner in its appeal to the CAS. The anti-doping body, in its statement, explained that it does not agree with the ITIA’s finding of “no fault or negligence” as put forth earlier by the tribunal in Sinner’s case.

“I'm very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings. All three hearings came out very positively for me. You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it a couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it's going to go official,” Sinner said in his statement responding to WADA's accusations.