When Jannik Sinner plays the final in Rome: background with Casper Ruud

Fifty years after Adriano Panatta’s feat, another Italian dreams of conquering the Internazionali d’Italia. He is Jannik Sinner who, thanks to his success against Medvedev, has brought his extraordinary series of consecutive wins in Masters 1000s to 33. After struggling in the second set of Friday night’s semifinal, the world number one will take on Casper Ruud in the final scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. on Centre Court.

The precedents clearly smile on the Italian: in the four confrontations played so far, Sinner has always prevailed in two sets. The last intersection was at last year’s Internazionali di Roma, when the South Tyrolean dominated the Norwegian with a clear 6-0 6-1 victory in just over an hour.

Sinner goes in the hunt for a sixth consecutive Masters 1000, a milestone never before achieved in the history of tennis. The Italian champion’s last defeat was on March 19 in Doha against Mensik: since then he has strung together 28 consecutive victories.

If he triumphs in Rome, Sinner would become the first player since Novak Djokovic to win all nine Masters 1000 tournaments at least once. He would also equal Rafael Nadal as the only tennis player capable of winning all three Masters 1000s on clay in the same year.