Madrid Open: Jannik Sinner dominates Cameron Norrie to equal historic match-winning run
Having managed to find love in the opening match, 30-year-old Norrie’s strong start quickly faded as Sinner broke twice to take a 6-2 lead in the first set.
They each held serves until the fifth game, when Norrie, resisting a break point, tried to gain momentum with an underarm serve but failed to clear the net.
The Italian won the match but Norrie did not back down, winning seven consecutive points in his efforts to turn the tide in the first competitive encounter between the players.
With the score at 5-5, the British number one survived two break points before handing the game over to Sinner. By taking part in the final match, Sinner became the second player in tennis history to win the first 20 Masters 1000 matches of the season, after Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2015.
“We know each other pretty well. We trained a lot last tournament. We both knew what to expect,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said of Norrie.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “This surface is very, very different to any other surface so it’s very difficult to get the right feedback and sometimes you get the feeling that you’re not doing your best.
“But I’m really happy to be in the quarters again, this is a tournament where I haven’t played that much, so it means a lot to me and I’m happy to finish in two sets.”
In the quarter-finals, it will play against Kopriva or Jodar, who will meet later on Tuesday. The pair were given the afternoon slot following Jodar’s last-32 victory over Joao Fonseca late on Sunday night.
Sinner questioned the way the tournament was organised, after playing at the “unusual” time of 11am local time (12pm BST).
“[Jodar] it ended too late [on Sunday]”But I also feel like we need to make some adjustments to the planning of the day,” he said.
“It’s very, very late for games at 8pm, even though it’s a day in between, it’s still very, very late.
“You finish work at 1.30 in the morning, you need to eat, you need to be treated, so it’s too late. We’re trying to adapt ourselves, our body and our mind to this.”
