World No.1 Jannik Sinner is pedaling to the metal as he continues his purple patch in the ongoing Italian Open. Sinner cruised past Italian compatriot Andrea Pellegrino 6-2, 6-3 in the pair’s maiden meeting on the tour on Tuesday to make it to the next round.

With this victory, the Italian matched Novak Djokovic’s record for the longest winning streak in ATP Masters 1000 history, taking the impetus to 31 games in the series.

As expected, the four-time Slam champion was delighted with his efforts.

“I am very happy with the outcome. I am very happy for him. We played seven years ago in a smaller court and it is nice,” Sinner said, referring to his win against Pellegrino at an ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour event in 2019. “From an Italian point of view, it is amazing there are so many Italians in the round of 16. It was a good match for both of us.”

Sinner is looking to join Djokovic in Rome as only the second player to complete the Career Golden Masters, winning all nine ATP Masters 1000 events since the format began in 1990.

Sinner will next take on Andrey Rublev on Thursday.

On the other hand, Alexander Zverev was stunned by Luciano Darderi. The German had four match points in the second set tiebreak but failed to capitalise on the opportunities. Zverev admitted he felt tired on the court.

“I did get tired. Whether it’s a sickness or I just played a lot of tennis… That’s one of the reasons,” Zverev said. “I think I should have won the match in two sets. That’s just the story from there. Of course, the third set went for him. He played amazing tennis. I should have won the match in two sets.”

Darderi will next face Spain’s Rafael Jodar in the quarterfinal on Wednesday.