BNP Paribas Open: Reigning champ Taylor Fritz knocked out in quarterfinals by Jannik Sinner

Taylor Fritz saved a pair of break points in the third set Thursday, but he couldn’t save a third against Jannik Sinner as the Italian tennis star went up a break late to end Fritz’s bid to repeat as BNP Paribas Open champion.

With the win, Sinner, the 11th-seed, is the first Italian man to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells. It is his second Masters 1000 semifinal appearance. His first was at the Miami Open in 2021, when as a teenager he became the first Italian finalist in the history of that tournament.

Sinner, 21, will play top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday.

"I was quite prepared," Sinner said. "We practiced, fortunately, before the tournament here on the same court, so I knew a little bit what to expect, and I'm very happy to be in the next round."

Fritz’s loss was just his second in his last 15 matches at this event. He reached the semifinals in 2021 before winning the title here last year with a win over Rafael Nadal. Fritz had won nine consecutive Indian Wells matches before Thursday.

Fritz, 25, was aiming to become the first American to repeat as Indian Wells champion since Michael Chang in 1997 — the year Fritz was born.

"Obviously I wanted to keep going," Fritz said. "I obviously wanted to defend, but I just wanted to keep taking it one match at a time. I felt like I put myself in a good, decent position to be able to win the match today. He was the better player and he played a lot of the situations in the match better than I did. He deserves to win."

From the start Thursday, it appeared that repeating as champ would be a challenge for Fritz. He immediately went down a break while Sinner held serve to capture the first set.

Sinner then held serve for his first four service games. But Fritz held serve for his first five before finally going up a break in the 10th game of the set to take a 5-4 lead. Fritz then served out the set to force a third.

In the third set, Sinner again immediately went up a break before Fritz broke back to even the score and get back on serve. Fritz then saved a break point before scoring two more consecutive points to hold serve.

The two took turns holding serve to move the score to 3-3. Fritz then saved a second break point to hold serve before Sinner held serve to even the score again.

But in the ninth game of the set, Fritz fell behind on his serve once again and this time he was unable to recover. Sinner went up a break and, with all the momentum, served out to win the match.

"I found a way to get back in it and go into the third set, went down a break in the third and got it back," Fritz said. "I put myself in a decent chance to win the match. But in the end, I just couldn't make it happen."

Fritz said that the swirling wind on the court did affect the outcome. Not that Sinner didn't deserve to win, Fritz said, only that it changed the match and how the two adjusted to it.

"I think the wind played a really big part in how the match was decided," Fritz said.

Fritz added, "Every game he broke my serve on was when he was with and I was against. It was much harder against. I mean, we started the third set with I was against the wind, he broke me, and the we switched and then he was against the wind and I broke him back.

"On that side it was just very hard to just do anything with the ball, like every shot you hit, the wind kills it. So it was just tougher to like penetrate through the court, get free points.

"So I thought whoever was on the side with the wind helping them, they kind of just kind of held the power to win the game if they played it well."

Sinner is now 3-3 in his last six matches versus top five players after starting his career 0-13.

His only loss during his most recent two Indian Wells appearances came in a walkover last year to Nick Kyrgios. In 2021, Sinner lost here to Fritz.

This year, Sinner got his payback.

“I'm very happy about the win today," Sinner said, "so let's see what's coming next."

Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Defending champ Taylor Fritz upended by Jannik Sinner in Indian Wells