By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Early wake-up calls don’t slow Jannik Sinner’s roll.
In a rare 11 a.m. start time, Sinner served with command pulling the plug on Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 to score his 20th straight win and return to the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals for the second time in the last three years.
World No. 1 Sinner stretched his ATP Masters 1000 winning streak to 25 matches after capturing Masters 1000 championships in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.
Bidding to become the first man to capture five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 championships, Sinner played with clarity and discipline.
Today, Sinner improved to 27-2 on the season and joined Novak Djokovic (2011 and 2015) as the second man in history to win his first 20 ATP Masters 1000 matches of the season.
“Quite unusual [start time] for me,” Sinner said afterward. “I don’t know the last time I played at 11. For me, it doesn’t matter what time, I try to do my best…
“From my side it was a good performance today.”
Setting the tone on serve, Sinner served 62 percent, pumped eight aces against one double fault and dropped just six points on first serve in returning to the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals.
The 24year-old Italian broke for 2-1 then used the serve and volley to help consolidate for 3-1. Norrie tried to mix it up with the drop shot, some sharp angles and serve-and-volley of us own.
Those tactics did not faze Sinner who ripped deep drives to keep the Briton pinned behind the baseline. Sinner broke again for 4-1, part of a four-game surge, before serving out the opening set at 15.
“We practiced in the last tournament, we both kind of knew what to expect,” Sinner said of his maiden meeting with Norrie. “I feel like I was serving quite well today in important moments. It’s very tough to get the right feedback, sometimes you feel you are not playing your best.
“I’m very happy to to be in the quarters again. It’s a tournament I haven’t played a lot, so it means a lot to me and I’m happy to be through in two sets.”
The second set was a tougher test. Sinner broke for 3-2, but Norrie broke right back at love to level after six games.
Deadlocked at 5-all, Norrie saved two break points, but missed a couple of forehands as Sinner broke for 6-5.
A streaking Sinner drew one final forehand error to close in one hour, 26 minutes.
Wimbledon winner Sinner will play either 19-year-old Spanish wild card Rafael Jodar or Vit Kopriva for a semifinal spot.