Carlos Alcaraz has been hailed as the next big star of the men’s game, but it appears he may have met his match in Jannik Sinner.

Italian big hitter Sinner moved one clear in his head-to-head matches with Carlos Alcaraz after dumping the top seed out of the China Open in the semi-finals.

The pair had shared their opening six matches, including a US Open quarter-final that was arguably the best contest of last year.

The first set in Beijing featured a succession of brilliant, hard-hitting rallies, with 22-year-old Italian Sinner twice coming from a break down to take it on a tie-break.

And Alcaraz, 20, was unable to match his young rival in the second set, the errors beginning to flow in a 7-6 (4) 6-1 victory for Sinner.

Sinner now leads Alcaraz 4-3 in a new rivalry that is set to play a big part in tennis narrative over the next decade, with the Italian threatening to take the upper hand.

The manner of his victory in the second set left the impression that Alcaraz had run out of ideas against Sinner and his post-match comments suggested he needed to find a new solution against an opponent who constantly challenges his authority on the court.

“Against players like Jannik, if you don’t take advantage of those opportunities, it’s harder to win or stay ahead on the scoreboard,” he said