Sinner Rolls Past Ruud, Reaches Rome Semifinals

Jannik Sinner, Rome
Jannik Sinner (photo: Giampiero Sposito/FITP)

ROME/WASHINGTON, May 15, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner showed why he’s on a winning streak that has now reached 25 straight at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, after he annihilated Madrid champion and current No. 7 Casper Ruud, 6-0, 6-1, who brought his own 9-match winning streak into their quarterfinal skirmish Thursday night.

It was a power hour to behold.

Sinner, who reached his first semifinal at Foro Italico with his victory over Ruud, also is on a run of 24 consecutive sets won against Top 10 players, since losing to No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz in last September’s Beijing final. By the time the last point was completed after just 64 minutes of play, Sinner had won his fourth straight over Ruud and he improved to 8-0 in sets. This was their first meeting on a outdoor court after the first three were indoors. There would be no perfect 10 for Ruud on this late-spring evening in Rome.

As the superlatives piled up in favor of Sinner – and he received plenty of plaudits from the mostly-Italian crowd, too – his triumph also marked the first time in the Open Era that multiple Italian men have reached the Rome semifinal, following No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti’s victory over No. 2 Alexander Zverev Wednesday night. It’s also the first time in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990) that two Italian men have reached the semifinals of the same event.

Sinner started extraordinarily against the sixth seed Ruud, racing to a 5-0, triple-break lead after just 21 minutes on a lovely evening across Foro Italico, before another full house that filled 10,500-seat Campo Centrale. By the end of the set, he had hit eight winners, made just five unforced errors and broke Ruud’s serve three times in three opportunities. It’s not that Ruud was playing badly – he wasn’t – it was just that Sinner was playing superbly. He seemed to have the right touch on everything he hit, and he played smart tennis, too.

The top-seeded Sinner closed out the 27-minute set 6-0 on his third set point after Ruud netted a backhand return to quash a six-shot rally. The 23-year-old Italian won 25 of the 32 points played during the set and Ruud finished with zero winners to 11 unforced errors. Ruud would need to reset, but would Sinner allow him?

As the second set unfolded, Sinner sprinted to a 2-0 lead with another break of Ruud before the Norwegian No. 1 finally held his serve to avoid a double-break deficit. Ruud raised his arms in celebration – perhaps, in relief? – as he headed toward the changeover after winning the third game to finally get on the scoreboard. Soon, Sinner increased his lead to 4-1 after another break of Ruud’s serve, his fifth of the match, and consolidated the break for a 5-1 advantage. There was no looking back.

While Ruud brought a 7-0 win-loss record on clay in ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals into Thursday’s match – aiming to become the second Scandinavian man to reach 10 ATP Masters 1000 semifinals after Stefan Edberg – as the second set unfolded and began to look almost like a carbon copy of the first, by the end he was no match for the powerful Sinner, whose level seemed to keep getting better as the match grew older.

Sinner put away the victory – capping a near-flawless night – with a ruthless, second-shot backhand winner that grounded Ruud in his tracks. The Madrid champion had been humbled.

During his on court-interview, Sinner was asked by ATP Media if his performance was as close to perfection as he could get.

“It’s tough to say,” said Sinner, who improved to 11-0 this season and 13-5 lifetime in Rome. “I was feeling great on the court today. I think we all saw that. 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.

“Everything can change in one day. It’s not that one performance can tell everything about my shape now, but I’m very happy. 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.”

The statistics bore out the one-sided nature of the quarterfinal. Sinner won 76 percent of his service points, losing just a total eight points on serve; he struck 22 winners – 13 of them from his forehand side – made just 10 unforced errors, faced no break points and converted six of nine break points. By comparison, Ruud hit just seven winners while committing 17 unforced errors. Sinner outpointed Ruud 55-22.

Sinner was simply the best tonight.

Paul reaches Rome semifinals for second straight year

There’s something about Rome that brings out the best in World No. 12 Tommy Paul‘s tennis game. Quietly but efficiently – round-by-round – Paul has met the challenges of his draw. For the second straight year, the American Paul faced No. 31 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the quarterfinal round at Foro Italico. Like last year, Paul came out the winner.

Paul advanced to his second straight Rome semifinal with his 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over the 30th-seeded Hurkacz in one hour and 58 minutes on Campo Centrale Thursday afternoon. It improved his win-loss record in the Eternal City to 9-4. He will face World No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner in Friday’s semifinal round. Sinner currently holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage against Paul.

“Every time I come here, I feel at home,” Paul said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “The courts match up with my game really well. I feel comfortable out here and I’ve been playing some good tennis this week.”

After a topsy-turvy first set, in which each player broke the other’s serve three times, the 11th seed from the United States settled down and went to work. The New Jersey native stayed composed and made the most of his 16 winners, in which 12 of them came from his forehand side. Paul won 74 percent of his first-serve points, converted four of nine break points and outpointed Hurkacz 88-74. It was the third time in four meetings that Paul has bested Hurkacz, who struck 23 winners but also made 48 unforced errors.

“Both of us were returning so well, obviously we would have liked to be hitting our spots better on serve,” Paul said. “We were keeping the pressure in our service games. I thought I regrouped pretty well in the breaker, and then into the second set.”

The 27-year-old Paul became the first American since Pete Sampras in 1993-94 to reach back-to-back Rome semifinals and just the fourth player from the United States overall, joining Jim Courier (1992-93) and Eddie Dibbs (1978-79). It’s also Paul’s fourth ATP Tour semifinal of the season, to go along with previous final four appearances this season in Adelaide, Dallas and Houston and his fourth ATP Masters 1000 semifinal of his career.

Later, during his post-match news conference, Paul was asked by a reporter if he preferred to play Sinner or Ruud. “I’m excited either way,” he said. “I mean, anytime you get to play the best player, you’re excited, you know?”

Musetti sets showdown with Alcaraz

Late Wednesday evening, Lorenzo Musetti gave Italian fans plenty to cheer and be passionate about as he used his shot-making artistry to deliver a knock-out punch to defending champion and this year’s No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev on Campo Centrale.

The World No. 9 and eighth seed from Carrara, Italy secured his second career win against a Top-2 player with a 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over the World No. 2 Zverev, in two hours and 15 minutes.

Musetti struck 21 winners – 15 of them from his forehand side – and made 22 unforced errors, compared to 20 winners and 36 unforced errors committed by Zverev. Musetti converted each of his three break-point chances and outpointed Zverev’s 80-67.

According to the ATP website, Musetti played 20 drop shots and won 15 of them, which kept Zverev off balance and the crowd excited for their home county hero.

“Full crowd, full stadium, and that’s a big advantage. All this week, there has been incredible support from the fans,” Musetti said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I felt adrenaline and energy from the first point, even if it was not an easy start, but I managed to come back and find a way – and that’s the key of this match.”

Afterward, Zverev told reporters that Musetti defends a lot on defense as well as on the mistakes from other opponents. “Today was difficult for me to hit winners. It was very slow, very, very heavy,” he said. “The balls were getting very big. Even though I had my chances, I was up three set points, four set points in the first set on my serve. Usually I should win that set and then we’ll see. … It was difficult today.”

The victory by Musetti, which improved his 2025 season win-loss record to 20-6, means he will play World No. 3 and third seed Carlos Alcaraz (28-5) of Spain in Friday’s semifinal round. The 22-year-old Spaniard leads the head-to-head 4-1.

No ordinary day off, Sinner meets Pope Leo XIV

On Jannik Sinner‘s day off Wednesday, following his fourth-round victory over Francisco Cerundolo and a day before meeting Casper Ruud in the semifinal round, the World No. 1 from San Candido, Italy in the South Tyrol visited Vatican City (about 7 kilometers from Foro Italico) and met privately with Pope Leo XIV, the newly-elected head of the worldwide Catholic Church.

The 23-year-old Sinner, who was accompanied by his parents, Johann and Siglinde, his manager Alex Vittur, plus a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation including president Angelo Binaghi, presented the pontiff with one of his tennis racquets before posing in front of the Davis Cup trophy and the Billie Jean King Cup trophy, both most recently won by Italy.

“Could I play at Wimbledon?” Pope Leo XIV, an amateur tennis enthusiast, asked Sinner. It drew smiles and laughter from everyone.

Around Foro Italico

The quarterfinal round of doubles began with the upper half of the draw in action. No. 4 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, fresh off winning the title at Madrid, were upset by British duo Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, 6-3, 6-2, in 67 minutes on Supertennis Arena. Then, co-World No. 1s and top seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia defeated seventh-seeded American pair Christian Harrison and Evan King, 7-5, 6-4, in one hour and 20 minutes on Supertennis Arena. The two winning teams will meet in Saturday’s semifinals.

Thursday’s Rome results

Friday’s Rome order of play

By the numbers

With both Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals, it marks the first time in the Open Era that multiple Italian men have reached the Rome semifinal round. It’s also the first time in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990) that two Italian men have reached the semifinals of the same event.

“Quotable …”

“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking, this is a subject we’ve had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time.

“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It’s very difficult to hit winners here. It’s just how it is these days.

“Of course, for me, for my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day I’m still somebody that tries to play aggressively. I’m still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That’s how it is. It’s difficult to get free points today.”

– No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, during his post-match interview with reporters Wednesday evening, after losing to No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

 

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