ROME, May 16 – The world’s top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner experienced a difficult night’s sleep before wrapping up his weather-delayed semifinal triumph over Daniil Medvedev at the Italian Open on Saturday.
The tournament’s leading seed defeated Medvedev with scores of 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a semifinal match that had been postponed Friday evening because of torrential rain, with Sinner ahead 4-2 in the final set when officials stopped play.
Sinner will face Norway’s 23rd-seeded Casper Ruud in Sunday’s championship match, against whom the Italian holds a 4-0 advantage in previous meetings.
“A tough challenge, to be honest. During the night, usually I never struggle to sleep. This night was not easy,” Sinner said.
“When you’re in the third set, nearly done, but you still have to show up again … It’s basically a new start of a match. There are nerves again, but I’m very happy how I handled the situation.”
This triumph pushed Sinner’s extraordinary Masters series victory run to 33 straight matches, an unprecedented streak that has included championship trophies in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid.
Notably, the Rome championship represents the sole gap in his outstanding Masters tournament collection, after falling to Carlos Alcaraz in the previous year’s final.
With his advancement to Sunday’s title match, Sinner also achieved the distinction of becoming the first Italian player since Nicola Pietrangeli 68 years ago to appear in consecutive Rome finals.
Sinner maintains an unblemished 4-0 record against Ruud, which includes a quarterfinal victory in Rome the previous year, and has yet to lose a single set to the Norwegian competitor. However, he anticipates a challenging contest.
“I think he’s playing much, much better tennis right now, it’s going to be very tough,” Sinner added.
“I’m just happy to stand again here in the final – special tournament for me, special tournament for Italians … If it goes well, I’m very happy. If not, the final of a Masters is an amazing result.”
