World No.1 Jannik Sinner registered a comprehensive 6-2, 6-0 triumph against Alexei Popyrin at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Monday to advance in the tournament. With this victory, the Italian matched Novak Djokovic as just the second man to win his first 25 ATP Masters 1000 matches of the season.

Sinner had recently become the first player to win at five consecutive Masters 1000 events eight days ago in Madrid. With this win, Sinner improved his head-to-head record against the Australian to 3-1.

Sinner reflected on how he tackled the windy conditions in Rome.

“On the conditions, I feel like the wind was one way,” said Sinner, who committed just one backhand unforced error in the match. “I didn’t have to change a lot, but in the same time, when you play with wind, you try to move the ball a bit more around. When you are against the wind, I try to go quite flat.

“It was a very good performance. He is a big server and his percentage was not very high, which helped me a little bit. But I have been returning the second serves very well and I am happy to be in the next round.”

If Sinner goes all the way in Rome, he would become the second man after Novak Djokovic to complete the Career Golden Masters (winning all nine Masters 1000 events) since the series began in 1990.

After his 65-minute win against Popyrin, Sinner extended his Masters 1000 match-winning streak to 30, the second-longest run in series history.

Sinner will next take on compatriot Andrea Pellegrino in the round of 16 on Tuesday.