Andrey Rublev Scared of the Daunting Task of Overcoming Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open

Andrey Rublev is already anticipating his quarter-final clash against Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open. The Russian star has been touted to spoil the party for the World No.1, who is set to break Novak Djokovic‘s historic 31 consecutive victories at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments after equalling the record on Tuesday (May 12).

Sinner defeated fellow Italian compatriot Andrea Pellegrino 6-2, 6-3 to earn his 31st consecutive Masters 1000-level wins. The four-time Grand Slam champion brings an undoubtedly intimidating level of performance to the match against Rublev, having been unbeatable since February.

However, Rublev understands what it takes to face Sinner at his peak, and he has defeated the Italian star in just 3 of their 10 meetings. His last win was at the Canadian Open back in 2024, when he stunned in three sets. Since then, Sinner has defeated Rublev twice, losing just one set in the process.

This is Rublev’s 16th Masters 1000 quarter-finals appearance on tour. He arrived at this stage of the tournament after victories against Miomir Kecmanović, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Nikoloz Basilashvili. Against Sinner, Rublev seems to return to the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 for the 10th time in his career.

Sinner is yet to drop a set at the Italian Open. He’s undoubtedly playing at the peak of his powers and has dropped just two sets in the past two months. He has the chance to win his fifth consecutive title of the season in Rome. Nonetheless, despite Rublev being intimidated by the World No.1 run of form in the last couple of weeks, he hopes to challenge himself to beat Sinner:

The good thing is, how many Masters in a row has he won already? Five? How many matches in a row? Twenty-something? So it’s getting closer. I’m not excited. I’m not bad. I’m fine. Of course, if you ask me, I prefer to play someone else. Of course, I prefer to play someone else. But if I were to challenge myself against Jannick, yes, I would like to challenge myself against Yannick as well. So that’s why I’m fine.

Rublev will have to be at his best against Sinner from the start of the match to the end. Can he beat the Italian star? That will be answered on the court at the Foro Italico. But Sinner will seek to quash any of Rublev’s hopes of a win as early as possible. It will fall on Rublev to either continue to fight or surrender to the barrage of attacks from the World No.1 at the Italian Open.

Andrey Rublev proud of his run at the Italian Open after overcoming Nikoloz Basilashvili

Andrey Rublev’s last final on tour came at the Barcelona Open last month. He reached his first final in months but failed to claim the title as he fell to the in-form Arthur Fils. However, Rublev has made a startling improvement in his game over the past two months, and he’s in a position to return to the top 10.

After establishing himself as a top 10 player for a couple of seasons, the Russian star dropped from the elite group and found himself outside the Top 20 at one time last year. Getting back to shape and high confidence, he defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the round of 16 and was proud of his performance:

Some players, it’s tough to serve aces against them, but they are not making anything dangerous from the return. And Niko (Basilashvili) is this kind of player. He’s guessing, so he goes right or left, but if he guesses right, he hits full power. So okay, at one moment you serve a lot of aces, but then another moment, if he guesses right, maybe it’s going to be three winners.

Rublev, who complained about the court quality at the Italian Open, won 13 aces against Basilashvili and claimed 77 percent of his first serve points. At the match, he dropped his first set of the tournament, but recovered brilliantly to claim the victory. He now has eight clay-court wins across four tournaments. The only event at which Rublev failed to pick a win was the Madrid Open.

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