Andrea Pellegrino, the Cinderella story of the Rome Masters, stands 1.85 meters tall with gleaming muscles. Coming through the qualifying rounds, the Italian world No. 155 will face his compatriot Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 on Tuesday. Sinner, the reigning king of tennis, has been collecting titles and breaking records at a blistering pace.
Until last week, Pellegrino had never made the main draw of a Masters 1000 event—the most prestigious tournaments outside the Grand Slams. In the Italian capital, he has strung together three impressive victories, aided by a bit of luck, such as Frenchman Arthur Fils retiring due to injury in the second round, but also driven by sheer determination and composure, as evidenced by his Monday win over Frances Tiafoe.
The American, ranked 22nd in the world and a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in 2025, fell 7-6 (10/8), 6-1 to a player whose natural habitat is the Challenger circuit, the second tier of professional tennis. The 29-year-old Pellegrino has no clear explanation for his recent streak, except that he is trying to “give his all.”
“That is the only motto I have set for myself, even in practice—something I used to struggle with a bit more,” admitted the player, who will leap 31 spots in the ATP rankings to world No. 125, the best of his career.
**’Monumental Drubbing’**
Barring an historic upset, his fairytale run should end on Tuesday. His next opponent is none other than the world’s best player and the tournament’s top favorite, Jannik Sinner, who demolished Australian Alexei Popyrin (60th) 6-2, 6-0 to secure his 25th consecutive victory.
“Playing on Center Court in front of 10,000 people against the best player in the world, who has won the last five tournaments he has entered, will be an incredible emotion, and I hope to enjoy it,” Pellegrino said.
The two have faced each other before, in 2019 at a Futures tournament (the third-tier circuit) in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy. The final was won by the then-17-year-old Sinner, 6-1, 6-1.
“I got a monumental drubbing,” recalled Pellegrino. “I remember very little—just that I lost convincingly.”
Ever diplomatic, Sinner expressed delight at contesting an “Italian derby.”
“Andrea is no longer the same player as in 2019, and neither am I. I expect a very, very tough match,” he warned.
The winner of the last five Masters 1000 events (Paris in 2025; Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Monte Carlo this year), the player from South Tyrol—a German-speaking region in northeastern Italy—could become the first Italian man to triumph at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
It is hard to imagine Sinner, who could equal Novak Djokovic’s longest Masters 1000 winning streak (31 in 2011), being caught off guard. But this year, the Foro Italico seems ripe for great stories.
