ATP Tour

Sinner up & running with Ofner win in Rome

Jannik Sinner began his bid to complete the Career Golden Masters at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Saturday, when he dispatched Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round.

The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings made history last week in Madrid, where he became the first player to triumph at five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 events after also winning in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo in the past six months.

Sinner’s recent success has left him just a Rome crown away from joining Novak Djokovic and becoming the second man to complete the Career Golden Masters (winning all nine Masters 1000 events) since the series began in 1990.

In a dominant performance on home soil, Sinner hit through Ofner, who was unable to deal with the Italian’s pure ball-striking and baseline consistency. After committing just five unforced errors in the first set, the Italian produced a perfect drop shot at the start of the second set to break Ofner again and take complete control.

"It is an amazing feel to be back," Sinner said. "The first match, the most important thing is not to lose. The level will eventually come day by day. I am very happy to be here. Since day one, this has been a very special tournament for me. Every year when you come here, you reflect about the year a little bit, being Italian and in a year a lot of things can change. I am happy to be here."

With his one-hour, 31-minute win, Sinner extended his match win streak at this level to 29, matching Roger Federer for the third-longest run in series history.

Sinner advanced to the final in the Italian capital 12 months ago and is trying to become the first Italian winner in Rome since Adriano Panatta in 1976. The 24-year-old will next meet Alexei Popyrin. Popyrin prevailed 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 against Jakub Mensik in two hours and 11 minutes.

Ofner, a two-time ATP Challenger champion this year, was meeting Sinner for the first time at tour-level but did face the top seed at a Challenger event in Italy in 2019. Sinner, just a teenager at the time, also earned victory that day, recording a 6-2, 6-4 win in Ortisei.