Jannik Sinner continued his stellar run at Masters 1000 tournaments with a 25th win in a row at this level as he dispatched British No 1 Cameron Norrie in the Madrid Open fourth round.
It was a first career meeting for the pair and another fairly routine win for Sinner, who is bidding to win the Madrid title for the first time.
The Italian came out on top in a shade under an hour and a half, winning 6-2 7-5 in 87 minutes after an early start at the Manolo Santana Stadium.
Norrie had never played a competitive match against Sinner before but admitted ahead of the contest that the Italian “rips me up and smokes me” in practice.
Sinner, who has never been beyond the quarter-finals in Madrid, said on Sky Sports: “We know each other quite well, we practised a lot in the last tournaments, so we both kind of knew what to expect.
“I felt like I was serving quite well today in the important moments. This surface is very, very different than all the other surfaces so it’s very tough to get the right feedback and sometimes you feel like you’re not playing your best.
“But I’m very happy to be here in the quarters again. It’s a tournament I haven’t played a lot so it means a lot to me.”
The 11am start time was “quite unusual” for Sinner, who said: “I don’t know the last time I played at 11, but for me it doesn’t matter what time. I try to do my best… We try to adapt ourselves, our bodies and our minds. From my side, it was a good performance today.”
He will face either local favourite and rapidly rising star Rafael Jodar or Vit Kopriva in the quarter-finals.
The consolation for British No 1 Norrie, who was close to dropping out of the top 100 a year ago, is that he is set to return to the top 20 next week.
Sinner is looking to make history by winning a fifth consecutive Masters 1000 title but he has admitted he does not find the conditions in Madrid easy and he is yet to hit top form in the Spanish capital.
But he remains the heavy favourite to continue his domination of Masters events in 2026, having won every title available so far, and particularly in the absence of his only real rival, Carlos Alcaraz.
The 24-year-old was on cruise control in the opening set, the depth and relentlessness of his hitting too good for Norrie as he won five games in a row.
Norrie tried everything in an attempt to disrupt Sinner’s rhythm, including an underarm serve in the fifth game of the second set.
The only blip for Sinner came when he was broken to love in the next game to allow Norrie to get back on level terms, but the Brit dropped serve again at 5-5 and that proved the decisive blow.
Also through to the last eight is in-form young Frenchman Arthur Fils, one of the players who will look to challenge Sinner in the absence of Alcaraz, with the 21st seed beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3 6-4.
Fils won the Barcelona Open last week and is on an eight-match winning streak, and will face either sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti or 11th seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals.
Additional reporting by PA
