Jannik Sinner’s dominance continues, Andrea Pellegrino out with head held high

Too Jannik Sinner for Andrea Pellegrino: the San Candido outfielder won the quarterfinals of the Internazionali d’Italia by beating compatriot Andrea Pellegrino with a score of 6-2, 6-3. Now Sinner will have to contend with one between Andrej Rublev and Nik’oloz Basilashvili.

At his absolute debut in a round of 16 at a tournament of this level, Pellegrino initially felt the tension and gave way to the initiative of Sinner, who won the first set 6-2 thanks to two breaks. The Apulian, however, managed to show good signs by nullifying two break points and also forcing the South Tyrolean to defend his serve on one occasion.

In the second partial, Sinner kept up the intensity and did not stop pushing but Pellegrino grew a lot and the confrontation was definitely more balanced than in the first set. The decisive moment came in the seventh game, when the world number one found the break that definitely directed the match. Sinner then handled it with great maturity closing the second partial on 6-3.

Andrea Pellegrino is currently number 126 in the ATP ranking and arrived at the Internationals after qualifying. Before Monday he had faced Jannik Sinner once before in 2016, in a Challenger in Santa Margherita di Pula, and the current world number one won in two sets. 29 years old, he is a clay court specialist and has won several Challenger tournaments throughout his career.

“When I came here I never expected this kind of result. It’s great, I’m really happy with my tennis,” Pellegrino said after his incredible victory over Tiafoe in the first round. “I was fine from the beginning and fought on every point.”