NEW YORK (AP) — Jannik Sinner returned to the U.S. Open semifinals by beating No. 10 Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday night in the first all-Italian matchup in a men’s major quarterfinal.

The No. 1 seed continued what’s been an easy title defense and on Friday will face No. 25 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat No. 8 Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Sinner is into his fifth straight Grand Slam semifinal and, with a win Friday, would reach the finals of all four majors this year. He has won 26 consecutive matches in majors on hard courts. That includes the past two Australian Open titles along with his triumph in New York a year ago.

“These are very special occasions. Finding myself again in the semis of a Grand Slam, it’s a great, great achievement,” Sinner said.

He needed just two hours Wednesday — the first set took only 27 minutes — fighting off all seven break points he faced. He has dropped just 38 games in his five matches, the second-fewest by a man to reach the U.S. Open semifinals since 2020.

Sinner, who has won 31 consecutive service games, won 42 of 46 first-serve points (91%).

Musetti was trying to reach his first U.S. Open semifinal after getting that far at the French Open this year and Wimbledon in 2024. But he got off to a horrible start against his Davis Cup teammate, falling behind 5-0 and winning just nine total points to Sinner’s 25 in the first set.

“I never played, honestly, someone who put me on this kind of rush in the rally, and I didn’t have many chances on the rally and he was always leading the rally,” Musetti said. “So that was kind of a bad feeling.”

He started to get more chances against Sinner’s serve as the match went on but could never get a break that maybe could have swung things.

“We have to take the friendship away for the match and obviously when we shake hands, it’s everything’s fine,” Sinner said.

___

More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis