ROME (AFP) – Jannik Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of the Italian Open after establishing on Thursday a new record of consecutive wins in Masters 1000 tournaments, while his opponent in the last four beat Martin Landaluce 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Another straight-sets victory, this time 6-2, 6-4 over Andrey Rublev, moved Sinner up to 32 straight wins in the ATP's top-ranked events, one more than the previous record established by Novak Djokovic in 2011.
Rublev was Sinner's first seeded opponent at this year's tournament in Rome and the world number one made short work of his task in front of a delighted centre court.
The Russian offered little resistance, dropping his own serve in the first game of both sets to give Sinner a handy leg-up, and committing 28 unforced errors in 18 games.
Sinner meanwhile showed flashes of his best tennis but also started to look tired towards the end of the match, visibly touching his left thigh before confidently serving for the match.
"It's starting to feel that I've been playing a lot," Sinner later told reporters.
"However it goes, it will be a win for me, if I win great but even if things don't go well that's OK because I'll have a few more days to prepare for Paris, which is my main objective this year."
Sinner looks near unbeatable at the moment and with his great rival Carlos Alcaraz out injured he is heavy favourite to become the first Italian to win the Rome title in five decades, ahead of a potential career Grand Slam at the French Open.
The 24-year-old will meet Medvedev, tournament winner here in 2023, in the last four after the Russian came through a hugely entertaining match against Spanish lucky loser Landaluce.
After being picked to replace injured 14th seed Valentin Vacherot, 20-year-old Landaluce had a dream tournament and looked set for his first Masters 1000 semi-final after racing to the first five games on his way to winning the first set.
But Medvedev stemmed the tide and, helped by a short rain interruption, he roared back with some beautiful tennis as the pair went at each other shot for shot before the seventh seed eventually prevailed.
GAUFF IN WOMEN'S FINAL
Coco Gauff has a chance to claim her first Rome title after she reached the women's final, where she will meet Elina Svitolina, for the second straight year.
The American star beat veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3 in the afternoon session on centre court to give herself a chance of going one better than last year, when she lost to Jasmine Paolini.
The American star has struggled on clay this season, with a last-16 exit in the Madrid Open coming after a disappointing run to the quarter-finals in Stuttgart.
But she dealt with Romanian Cirstea -- who is set to retire at the end of the year -- professionally as spring sunshine burst out on centre court, helped by a marked improvement in her often erratic service game.
The 22-year-old made only one double fault and got 79 percent of her first serves in play, and cut a confident figure on court.
"I think it's like the first time in my career I feel like I'm really stable with that shot," she said of her second serve.
"I obviously don't want to jinx anything, but I think we found the recipe to making it more consistent. Now it's focusing on how to make it more of a weapon."
Svitolina has a chance at her third Rome title, eight years after her last, after beating Iga Swiatek 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in a hard-fought contest which lacked the thrills and spills of the Medvedev win which preceded it.
Swiatek had looked a good bet for the final after playing her best clay-court tennis in two years on her way to the last four, ahead of her run at a fifth French Open title.