Andrea Pellegrino was fairly impressive at times early in his round of 16 match against Jannik Sinner at the 2026 Rome Masters. That's true, but what's also true is that even while playing pretty well, he found himself down 2-5 in the first set in a little over 30 minutes. That would be the high point of his day.
Sinner wrapped up the first set 6-2 and was ruthless in his efficiency, especially on his serve. The ATP No. 1, who will likely keep increasing his lead over the rest of the field because Carlos Alcaraz is out for some time with a wrist injury, has greatly improved over the last few years. One reason is his epic serve.
The 24-year-old Italian has raised the percentage of landing his first serve by seven over the past year. He was already difficult to break, but now he is nearly impossible. This is something Pellegrino, five years his countryman's senior, learned for the first time. Somehow, the two players had never faced each other before.
Jannik Sinner defeats fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino at the 2026 Italian Open
In set one, Sinner landed 70 percent of his first serves and won 81 percent of those points. But to further prove how great a returner he is, the top-seed won 48 percent of Pellegrino's first serves even though he landed 68 percent of them. Pellegrino even had four winners and just two unforced errors, and still wasn't close to winning.
That had to be defeating, but the older Italian should have been proud of how relatively well he was playing. He was losing points, but keeping rallies going longer than most players have against Sinner.
Midway through the second set, the players had traded holds with Pellegrino, even pushing Sinner on his serve. He couldn't ever break through, though, and eventually it cost him. At 3-all, Sinner got the break. He had made more unforced errors than normal in set two, but his level was still far above his opponent's, just as it seemingly is for everyone else on the ATP tour.
To finish off the set 6-3, and the match, Sinner got another break. Pellegrino should be happy with how he played, though.
Jannik Sinner will next play Andrey Rublev or, stunningly, qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarterfinals. The Italian and the Russian have met 10 times, with Sinner winning seven of them. Sinner has never played the Georgian.
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