Jannik Sinner advances to Italian Open semis, breaks mark for consecutive wins

Top seed Jannik Sinner cruised into the semifinals of his home country's Italian Open on Thursday in Rome with a record-breaking 32nd consecutive win at the ATP Masters level.

Sinner, the World No. 1, shared the mark with Novak Djokovic before beating 12th-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in one hour, 32 minutes in the quarterfinals.

"I would have never imagined to stand here as the player what I'm right now," Sinner, 24, said in his post-match press conference. "Back in the days when I was younger, I never thought I would arrive to such a high level of tennis."

In the other quarterfinal on Thursday, seventh-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia dropped the first set before rallying past lucky loser Martin Landaluce of Spain 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours, 24 minutes.

Norway's Casper Ruud, the 23rd seed, faces Italy's Luciano Darderi, the 18th seed in the semifinals of Friday, followed by Sinner against Medvedev.

Djokovic's win streak spanned 31 matches in 2011. He also had a 30-match run from 2014-15.

Sinner has not lost in a Masters 1000 event since October, when he retired during a third-round match with the Netherland's Tallon Griekspoor at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The Italian started the current run of victories with a 6-4, 6-2 dispatch of Belgium's Zizou Bergs in the second-round of the Rolex Paris Masters in November.

Sinner has lost just two sets in the 32 victories, including a run of 37 consecutive sets. Along the way, he won the "Sunshine Double" with victories at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, and he topped rival Carlos Alcaraz of Spain for the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters.

Earlier this month, Sinner became the first player to capture five straight ATP Masters 1000 titles when he breezed past Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2 in the Mutua Madrid Open final.

Against Rublev, Sinner was 4 of 5 on break-point opportunities, to 1 of 3 for his opponent. The Italian had the edge in winners (19-12) and aces (4-1), and he made fewer unforced errors (18 to 28).

Sinner landed 61.5% of his first serves in the first set (16 of 26) but only 39.7% (12 of 31) in the second set.

"It's normal that one day in the tournament you are slightly tired," Sinner said of the low first-serve percentage. "I played a lot also. It has been very long days for me. But I'm happy how I ended the situation."

In the other semifinal, Landaluce was undermined by eight double faults and more unforced errors (39-24) while having the advantage in winners (34-27) and aces (3-2).

Medvedev won 72.3% of his first-serve points (34 of 47) to 59.4% (47 of 79) for the Spaniard. The Russian also converted only 5 of 15 break-point opportunities, to 5 of 7 for Landaluce.

Medvedev, 30, is ranked No. 9 in the world and is a former No. 1 (2022). Landaluce, 20, is a career-high 94th.

--Field Level Media