Jannik Sinner has tied Novak Djokovic's Masters 1000 consecutive-win record, reaching 31 straight victories with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino on Tuesday at the Italian Open in Rome.
The win places the 24-year-old world No. 1 level with Djokovic's 2011 record and advances him to the quarterfinals, where he will face Russian Andrey Rublev on Thursday. Rublev entered May ranked 12th in the ATP standings.
The streak stretches back to last fall, when Sinner had to retire from a match in Shanghai against Tallon Griekspoor due to severe leg cramps. He has not lost a Masters-level match since. Just nine days before Tuesday's win, Sinner won the Madrid Open to become the first player ever to claim five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles, surpassing both Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who each won four in a row.
According to Yahoo Sports, Djokovic is currently the only man to have won all nine Masters 1000 tournaments, a milestone he reached at age 31. If Sinner wins the Italian Open, he would accomplish that feat before turning 25. A title in Rome would also make him the first man to sweep the clay Masters 1000 events in a single season since Nadal did it in 2010, and the first home champion at the Italian Open since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Sinner has spoken about what drives his consistency across surfaces and events. "If you want to be a great player you've got to play on all the surfaces and all the tournaments at your maximum," he said, per the Associated Press. "It's the mind that makes the difference."
The next major test beyond Rome will be Roland-Garros, where Sinner has historically struggled at the Grand Slam level. Last year he blew a two-set lead in the French Open, falling to Carlos Alcaraz in a 5.5-hour match that featured three tiebreaks. Alcaraz has won the past two French Opens but has already announced he will not compete this year due to a wrist injury. A French Open title would give Sinner a career Grand Slam.
