Jannik Sinner continued his spell-binding form at the Italian Open by dispatching Australian Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to confirm his place in the round of 16 of the competition.
Sinner has now won 25 Masters matches in a row and he is on a 25-match win streak on the ATP Tour since his Qatar Open defeat to Jakub Mensik.
The Italian dropped just two games against Popyrin in what felt like a foregone conclusion before a ball had even been struck in Rome.
Without Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the Italian Open, another Masters title win looks inevitable for the World No. 1.
Sinner has earned huge praise for his latest performance from Annabel Croft, who has compared the Italian to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
“What a performance. It’s going to take something to stop this man at the moment. He’s just so clinical from the back of the court, the quality of the ball striking,” said Croft after his dominant victory against Popyrin.
“The way he controls the ball with aggression, and with rotation and spin on the ball. The control as well as the pace. It’s the depth with makes it virtually impossible to attack him. And it’s the way he plays with such balance at the back of the court as well.
“If you try to get him on the move, he moves so efficiently. You can hardly hear the footwork. He just glides across the back of the court, very much the way we used to talk about Federer. And much like Djokovic. He’s so similar to the way Novak Djokovic plays. On top of that, the serving. Perfection! Clinical serving into the corners. Free points, quick points. So much to admire in his game.”
Sinner was typically delighted to confirm his place in the round of 16 and set up a match with his compatriot Andreas Pellegrino next.
Speaking to Sky Sports straight after the match, Sinner said: “I feel like it was one-way, the wind, so you don’t have to change a lot. When you play with wind, you try to move the ball a little bit more around. When you are against wind I try to hit the ball quite flat.
“It’s been a very good performance from my side. It was very tricky conditions. He’s a big server, but his percentage was not very high which helped me. I’ve been returning very well and I am extremely happy to be in the next round.”
Sinner now holds a better win percentage at clay court Masters events than Djokovic after his latest victory at the Italian Open.
The Italian now sits on a 78.2% win rate at clay court Masters, which is just above Djokovic’s 77.8%.
The post Jannik Sinner praised for what he’s doing in Rome which was just like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic appeared first on Tennis365.
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