World No. 1 Jannik Sinner dominated No. 6 seed Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-1 in just 64 minutes to set up a semifinal match against Tommy Paul at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday in Rome.
Sinner thrilled the home crowd with his lopsided victory over the Norwegian clay-court specialist Ruud. It was the Italian’s 25th consecutive match win, a streak that dates back to 2024 before a three-month doping suspension.
“I was feeling great on the court today. I think we all saw that,” Sinner said. “My goal was to try to understand where my level is at this tournament. It raised day by day, so I’m very happy about that. The result doesn’t really matter, but I felt today was a very positive sign for me.”
As he prepares for Roland Garros later this month, Sinner had to be pleased with his performance on serves (25 of 33 total service points won) and at the net (11 of 12). He never faced break point against Ruud and ended the match winning 55 of the total 77 points.
The style in which he won was especially notable given that Ruud won his first career ATP Masters 1000 title earlier this month on clay in Madrid. The French Open is also contested on clay.
“It’s not that one performance can tell everything about my shape now, but I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I think today everything worked very well. I was serving well, also returning well, and moving great on the court. I’m very happy about that and now let’s see what’s coming in the semis.”
What’s coming is a date with the American Paul, the tournament’s No. 11 seed. He got past Polish 30th seed Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (4), 6-3 in their quarterfinal tilt.
Although Hurkacz out-aced Paul 6-1, he committed 48 unforced errors while Paul had only 25.
Paul is vying for his first ATP Masters 1000 title and will need to overcome Sinner to have a chance. He reached the semifinals in Rome last year but has never reached a final at the 1000 level.
“Every time I come here, I feel at home,” Paul said. “The courts match up with my game really well. I feel comfortable out here and I’ve been playing some good tennis this week.”
Paul saved 5 of 8 break points and rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the first-set tiebreaker to control the rest of the match.
–Field Level Media
