World No.1 Jannik Sinner showed his ruthless side as he comfortably dispatched recently crowned Madrid Open champion, Casper Ruud, in less than an hour. The scoreline was an astonishing 6-0, 6-1 in the Italian capital, which left the commentators and Ruud speechless.
The level was so high from Sinner that it reminded us of the prime Rafael Nadal days on clay. The Spaniard had a habit of producing clay-court masterclasses throughout his career, and this match was no different from the Italian. On certain occasions, Ruud was doing sarcastic celebrations after winning a point.
What Did Casper Ruud Say?
After the conclusion of their match, Casper Ruud gave a fascinating press conference at the Italian Open. The Norwegian was asked whether he felt bad about his performance. As reported by The Tennis Letter, the two-time Roland Garros finalist gave a hilarious answer.
“No, it doesn’t feel so bad, honestly. I think it was more fun than anything, even though I lost 0-1. You just look at the guy and say, This is kind of, yeah, next-level s*** – excuse my language (laughter) – but I don’t know what else to say. ????”
“It was almost fun to witness at the same time. Of course, I wish it was a closer match. I wish I could have given the people and the fans a longer, closer match. But I think that I was there ready to play, but he was just even readier. Every area of my good shots he matched with even better back. I couldn’t re-answer with a better shot. That was just the story of the match.”
Sinner Shows No Mercy
If there were any doubts whether Sinner would have nerves or rust coming into the Italian Open, those rumors are officially put to bed on Thursday night. The Italian dropped just one game in the match and now marches on to his first Italian Open semifinals. He will meet American Tommy Paul in the last four.
Jannik Sinner is currently on a 25-match winning streak. Only four more players in the Open Era have shown this level of dominance, and they were the Big 4 (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray). He has not lost a match since October, and he continues his unbeaten run to start the season.
On the other side, Carlos Alcaraz will come up against Lorenzo Musetti. This is a repeat of their recent Monte Carlo final, where the Spaniard won the match in three sets against an injured Musetti. However, there is a chance of an all-Italian affair in Rome on Sunday should the Olympic bronze medalist get the better of Alcaraz on Friday, May 16th.
