‘My level was great!’ Superb Sinner into Miami quarter-finals after dismissing Rublev

Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 10 seed, won against Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 6 seed, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday.

Sinner, ranked No 11, will face the winner of the match between Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, the No 26 seed, and Finn Emil Ruusuvuori next.

Something had to give in this match: neither player had lost a set so far this tournament. It was Sinner who kept his streak going, though, and he continues an amazing run in Miami; he has still never lost before the quarter-finals, reaching the final in 2021 where he lost to Hubert Hurkacz, and losing in the last eight last year.

He is the fourth man to achieve that after Yannick Noah, Stefan Edberg and Jimmy Connors.

It took him only 71 minutes to do it as well, hitting 28 winners and only eight unforced errors compared to his opponent’s 19 and 18 respectively.

Sinner: My level was great and I felt good

“We try every day our best and I’m very happy about my performance today,” Sinner told the television cameras afterwards. “Playing against Andrey is never easy, he serves very well and he plays very aggressive so I had to change a little bit today. My level was great, I felt good on court, hopefully I can keep it up in the next round. I think today I served better, maybe my best match in Miami, so I’m happy about that.”

Ahead of his victory, the 21-year-old Italian beat Serb Laslo Djere (6-4, 6-2) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 21 seed (6-3, 6-4).

Rublev, ranked No 7, defeated American J.J. Wolf (7-6 (3), 6-4) and Serb Miomir Kecmanovic, the No 29 seed (6-1, 6-2) earlier in the tournament.

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Miami Masters, other last 16 results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

• Quentin Halys vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Christopher Eubanks
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Tommy Paul
• Karen Khachanov vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Taylor Fritz vs. Holger Rune: tuesday