Sinner Sets up Pellegrino Derby After Cruising into Italian Open Last 16

The world number one easily won his 25th match in a row, spending just over an hour to outpoint Australia’s Popyrin and give qualifier Pellegrino a second place on the big stage on Tuesday afternoon.

The 29-year-old Pellegrino, who defeated 20th seed Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (10/8), 6-1, is ranked 155th in the world and had never played in the main draw of a Masters 1000 tournament before this week.

“It’s great fun to play the derby in Italy, he’s having an incredible tournament where he’s won a lot of victories against really good opponents,” Sinner told reporters. he said.

“We played each other a long time ago (in an ITF tournament in 2019), but he was a different player and I was a different player.”

Sinner, meanwhile, is looking to extend his own record-breaking overall winning streak at the ATP’s top-ranked events after winning the last five.

The 24-year-old joins Novak Djokovic as the only players to win the first 25 Masters 1000 matches of a year; The Serbian tennis icon’s record streak stretched back to 31 matches in 2011.

Popyrin was swamped by Sinner and made 23 unforced errors en route to a comprehensive defeat.

The world number 60 landed just 48 percent of first serves, allowing Sinner to break serve five times and nearly end a closely contested match.

If Sinner prevails at the Foro Italico, he will become the first Italian to win there since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago and complete his collection of Master 1000 tournaments.

“Sinner is different than everyone else right now, he is a class above,” Pellegrino said.

“I will try to do my best there and above all enjoy the atmosphere on the field.”

With his great rival Carlos Alcaraz injured and Novak Djokovic’s early elimination, Sinner will be the heavy favorite as he moves towards completing his career Grand Slam at the French Open, which starts next week.

Former Roman champion Daniil Medvedev starts the tournament by defeating Pablo Llamas Ruiz with sets of 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and enters the fight with Thiago Agustin Tirante, who beat 10th seed Roman Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4.

– Has Swiatek returned to the best? –

Iga Swiatek will face Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals of the women’s tournament after making short work of Naomi Osaka, beating the Japanese star 6-2, 6-1 and looking more like the player who won four French Open titles.

Pole Swiatek has not won a clay-court tournament since claiming his last title at Roland Garros two years ago; His personal problems contributed to his poor performance on his preferred ground.

But she looked her old self on Monday, leaving Osaka with nowhere to turn as she ran down the court and finished the match in just one hour and 22 minutes.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka has failed to advance beyond the last 16 of any tournament this year after being eliminated from Indian Wells and the Madrid Open at the same stage by Aryna Sabalenka.

Coco Gauff overcame her scare against Iva Jovic and came back from match point to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 and advance to the women’s quarter-finals.

American star Gauff, the defending French Open champion who reached the final in Rome last year, won a tight match that took the best part of three hours on the windy midfield.

Shortly after Gauff saved a match point against serve while trailing 5-4 in the second set, she got so angry at herself that she slapped her head.

However, she eventually recovered and bid farewell to her fellow American and moved on to a clash with Mirra Andreeva in the last eight.