Victory number thirty-two in a Masters 1000 comes against the Russian Rublev on an afternoon that was finally sunny after the rain that affected Wednesday’s day at the Foro Italico. Jannik Sinner qualifies for the semi-final of the Rome Internationals and tomorrow he will face the winner of the match between Medvedev and Landaluce. One hour and thirty-two minutes of play and one score (6-2, 6-4) which would suggest an easy match for Sinner. Instead, the world number one suffered a failed pass at 4-1 in the second set after he had broken his opponent’s serve for the second time and seemed destined for a quick conclusion. More tiredness than lack of concentration, as Sinner himself admitted at the end of the match: “I feel a bit tired, I’m trying to recover as best I can for tomorrowbut I didn’t play to my fullest. I’m happy anyway because there are two Italians in the semi-final and it’s beautiful.” Sinner snubs yet another record achieved but with the positive streak of 32 consecutive victories in the Masters 1000 he surpasses Nole Djokovic and continues to write the history of tennis.
The match
As often happens now, Sinner decides to respond and in the first game he breaks Rublev’s serve and he does it again in the seventh game after having previously saved two break points. At that point the closing of the set 6-2 is a given. The second game starts along the same lines as the first, Sinner seems even more convinced of closing the case soon and he breaks Rublev twice to make it 4-1. But then something went wrong and Sinner surrendered (for the first time in the tournament) the serve, with the Russian going back down (4-3), also causing Sinner’s staff to worry a bit with Cahill and Vagnozzi standing up several times to encourage him. But as always, Sinner’s ability to concentrate increases in the decisive moments of the match and the serve that had worked poorly up to that point becomes effective again. This was enough to defend their innings and close 6-4, earning yet another semi-final in Rome.
