World No. 1 Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first player to win five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 tournaments by besting Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open on Tuesday.
With an early 11 a.m. start time for the match, the Italian didn’t waste much time, taking care of the No. 19 seed in 87 minutes. While Sinner hit just 62% of his first serves, he was dominant in service games, finishing with eight aces to one double fault, winning 74% of his service points and facing just one break point.
On Norrie’s serve, Sinner broke four times in nine opportunities, winning 42.2% of his return points.
While this was their first head-to-head matchup, Sinner and Norrie had a good bit of history together, which made for an interesting clash.
“We know each other quite well. We practiced a lot together in the past tournaments also, so we both kind of knew what to expect,” Sinner said of facing Norrie for the first time. “I felt like I was serving quite well today in the important moments.”
With the win, Sinner is just the second player to start a season with 20 consecutive Masters 1000 match wins, joining Novak Djokovic (2011 and 2015). It was also Sinner’s 20th straight tour-level win.
To continue those streaks, he’ll next have to beat Spanish sensation Rafael Jodar, who maintained his remarkable form of late with a strong 7-5, 6-0 win over Czech Vit Kopriva in 79 minutes.
Jodar, a native of Madrid, has won 12 of his last 13 matches. The 19-year-old is just the third Spanish teenager to reach the Madrid quarterfinals, joining Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
“I’m super happy with my level today, with my level at this tournament,” Jodar said after Tuesday’s win. “It’s always so special to play at home in front of many people you know (who) came to support you. So, I’m super happy to play another match (Wednesday).”
No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany outlasted Czech 23rd seed Jakub Mensik 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the final match of the day. But a few other higher seeds weren’t as fortunate.
No. 6 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy fell 6-3, 6-3 to No. 11 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, and No. 7 Daniil Medvedev of Russia was beaten 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 by No. 10 Italian Flavio Cobolli.
Alexander Blockx of Belgium swept Argentinian No. 16 seed Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (8), 6-2 in another upset, but No. 12 Casper Ruud of Norway saved two match points to rally for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) win over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in just under three hours.
No. 21 Arthur Fils of France held off No. 25 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina for a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
–Field Level Media
