World number one Jannik Sinner‘s brilliant form continued as he reached the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open with a straight-set win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Bidding for his fourth ATP Masters 1000 title in a row, Sinner beat Norrie 6-2, 7-5 in less than 90 minutes to extend his winning streak to 20 matches.
After securing the Indian Wells, Miami Open, and Monte Carlo titles, Sinner’s last-16 win means he matches his tournament best in Madrid, having only reached the quarter-finals once before, in 2024.
The 24-year-old will face either Czech Vit Kopriva or 19-year-old Madrid-born Rafael Jodar.
Achieving a hold to love in the opening game, 30-year-old Norrie’s strong start faded quickly as Sinner broke twice to dominate the first set 6-2.
Each held serve until the fifth game, when Norrie, having resisted a break point, attempted to seize momentum with an underarm serve, but it failed to clear the net.
The Italian claimed the game, but Norrie broke back, winning seven successive points in his efforts to turn the tide in a first competitive meeting between the players.
At 5-5, the British number one survived two break points before surrendering the game to Sinner, who served out in the final game to become only the second player in tennis history to win the first 20 Masters 1000 matches of the season, after Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2015.
“We know each other quite well. We practiced a lot in the last tournament. We both kind of knew what to expect,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said of Norrie.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “This surface is very, very different from all the other surfaces, so it’s very tough to get the right feedback, and sometimes you feel like you are not playing your best.
“But I’m very happy to be in the quarters again, it’s a tournament I haven’t played a lot, so it means a lot to me, and I’m happy to be through in two sets.”
In the quarter-final, he will play either Kopriva or Jodar, who meet later on Tuesday. The pair were given the afternoon slot after Jodar’s round of 32 win over Joao Fonseca finished late on Sunday night.
After playing at the “unusual” time of 11 am local time (10:00 BST), Sinner questioned how the tournament is organized.
“[Jodar] finished very, very late [on Sunday], but at the same time I feel like we need to make some adjustments with scheduling of the day,” he said.
“For matches at 8 pm, it’s very, very late, even though you have one day in between – still, it’s very, very late.
“You finish at 1.30 am, and you need to eat, you need to have treatment, so it’s very late. We try to adapt ourselves, our bodies, and minds.”
