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Sinner dismisses Pellegrino to reach Italian Open quarter-finals
Casper Ruud beat Lorenzo Musetti to reach the Italian Open quarter-finals (Tiziana FABI)
(Tiziana FABI/AFP/AFP)
Jannik Sinner's charge towards a first Italian Open title continued on Tuesday after the world number one calmly dispatched countryman Andrea Pellegrino 6-2, 6-3.
As expected, the top seed outclassed qualifier Pellegrino on centre court in a match which was in truth never much of a contest.
The 24-year-old Sinner has now won 31 straight matches in Masters 1000 events to equal Novak Djokovic's record run.
Pellegrino's arrival in the last 16 of his home tournament is by far his best result in a Masters 1000 event.
The 29-year-old is set to move up to a career-best world ranking of 123rd after not just making the main draw of a top-ranked ATP tournament for the first time but also getting to face his country's biggest sporting star in front of over 10,000 fans.
Pellegrino received warm cheers as he put in a creditable performance against the dominant force in tennis, and he also showed some deft technique when given room to breathe by Sinner.
But Sinner was never in top gear and still comfortably dealt with Pellegrino to set up a clash with either 12th seed Andrey Rublev or another qualifier in Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Should Sinner win a record-extending sixth straight Masters 1000 title, he will be the first Italian to win at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago.
With great rival Carlos Alcaraz out injured and Djokovic eliminated early, Sinner is red-hot favourite for victory as he builds towards completing the career Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
- Ruud downs injured Musetti -
Casper Ruud strolled into the last eight after easily beating another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, 6-3, 6-1.
Clay court specialist Ruud is yet to drop a set in Rome and he looked in fine form on a windy centre court, in stark contrast to eighth seed Musetti who has clearly been struggling physically.
Musetti was in tears at the end of his third-round win over Francisco Cerundolo and had to take a medical time-out for a problem with his left thigh during the second set against Ruud.
The Italian will drop out of the top 10 of the men's world rankings ahead of the French Open next week, and he later told reporters that he is unsure of whether he will participate in Paris.
"I don't know, in the next couple of days we'll do some closer tests, something I've not been able to do given that I'm constantly playing," said Musetti.
Norwegian Ruud is on the other side of the draw from Sinner and will face Karen Khachanov in the last eight after exploiting Musetti's struggles with fitness.
"I realised that... we try to make him run as much as possible. It's cruel and it's brutal, but that's sport," Ruud told reporters.
Khachanov, seeded 13th, ended Dino Prizmic's bid to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, seeing off the spirited Croatian qualifier 6-1, 7-6 (7/2).
Prizmic had announced himself on the big stage this week by knocking out Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Veteran Sorana Cirstea, who knocked out world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the third round, reached the semi-finals of the women's tournament after beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 7-6 (7/0)
Romania Cirstea is set to retire at the end of the season and will face either Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva, on court centre court after Sinner, for a place in the Saturday's final.
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