Jannik Sinner ties Novak Djokovic’s Masters 1000 win-streak record with 31st straight victory amid Italian Open run

Jannik Sinner defeated fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino 6-2, 6-3 on May 12 to reach the quarterfinals of the Italian Open. (Photo by Antonietta Baldassarre/Insidefoto/LightRocket via Getty Images)

(Insidefoto via Getty Images)

Just nine days ago, Italian phenom Jannik Sinner became the first player to ever win five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles. In bringing home the Madrid Open, the 24-year-old Sinner surpassed Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic and Spanish legend Rafael Nadal, who each had won four Masters titles in a row (Djokovic on three separate occasions and Nadal once).

Sinner, the world No. 1, is now on the brink of more tennis history.

With a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino on Tuesday at the Italian Open, he tied Djokovic’s 2011 Masters win-streak record. In front of a crowd in the capital of his native country, Sinner stacked his 31st straight win in a Masters 1000 match while advancing to the quarterfinals of the Rome-based tournament. On Thursday, he’ll face Russian Andrey Rublev, who came into May as the 12th-highest rated player in the ATP rankings.

Winning Grand Slam events does the heavy lifting in writing a player’s legacy. But, aside from the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open., Masters 1000 events are the biggest in the sport.

And Sinner hasn’t lost a match in a Masters tournament since he had to retire with serious leg cramps in sweltering conditions last fall in Shanghai against Tallon Griekspoor. If Sinner takes the crown at the Italian Open, he will have won all nine Masters tournaments before turning 25. As of now, Djokovic is the only man to win each of them, although he reached that milestone at 31, .