Jan 26, 2025; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after winning his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany in the final of the men's singles at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

tennis

Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti Join Hands to Create Italian History at ATP Rome Masters 2025

Sinner and Musetti are through to the Rome SFs.

The sun seems to be shining extra bright on Italian tennis in the recent past. At the 2025 Italian Open in Rome, two ATP stars have accomplished an unthinkable feat that once seemed improbable. Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti have consistently put Italy on the map of late – and will vie to reach the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday.

Alongside Sinner and Musetti, Jasmine Paolini is hoisting the flag higher than ever at the Foro Italico. She has reached the singles final and doubles semifinal so far. As for Musetti and Sinner, they will face Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul for a spot in the summit clash, respectively. Yet, the duo has already achieved an impeccable ATP Masters-1000 semifinal record.

Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti Rewrite History in Rome

On Wednesday, Musetti faced No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev on Campo Centrale in the second of four quarterfinals. The 23-year-old went into the match with a 2-1 record against Zverev, and produced a scintillating performance to beat the three-time Grand Slam finalist yet again. Sascha had multiple set points in Set-1, but failed to convert them. The pressure from the crowd and from Musetti’s heavy groundstrokes resulted in a 7-6(1) 6-4 victory for the Paris Olympics bronze medalist.

World No. 1 Sinner stepped onto court around 24 hours later to face Casper Ruud in the last quarterfinal clash. Despite playing just his fourth match after returning from a three month suspension, the Italian looked like he had never left. Sinner struck 22 winners and 10 unforced errors en route to a thumping 6-0 6-1 win in just over an hour. Ruud, who failed to bring up a single break point throughout the match, revealed that Sinner’s tennis was “next level sh*t” after the match.

For the first time in history, two Italian men are into the Rome semifinals at the same time.

Jannik Sinner.

Lorenzo Musetti.

🇮🇹❤️ pic.twitter.com/o8yhfRBolb
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 15, 2025

Sinner and Musetti have now made history – the 2025 Italian Open in Rome is set to be the first tournament to have two Italians in the semifinals at ATP Masters-1000 level. Since the introduction of the format, no duo from the European nation has reached the final four stage at the same Masters event.

Can Musetti and Sinner Set Up an All-Italian Final?

Lorenzo Musetti has already beaten the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev this week. However, Friday’s semifinal will be a cut above the rest. The World No. 9 will take on four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, who is in the form of his life. It will be a rematch of the Monte Carlo Masters final which the Spaniard won in three sets. However, Musetti believes there is one key factor which could play into his hands at Roma Italia.

“The match will definitely be difficult, it will put me to the test. But I have to say that I’m getting motivated every time I step on the court,” Musetti declared. “Especially with this magnificent crowd. It’s definitely an advantage, you know, arriving at the court and hearing this roar.” The boisterous Italian crowd will certainly show up in huge numbers on semifinal Friday at the Foro Italico.

Meanwhile, Sinner’s goals this week are different. “It is tough to say [whether his win vs Ruud was the perfect performance], but I was feeling great on court and we all saw that. My goal this week is to understand where my level is, and it has raised day by day. Everything can change in one day, and one performance doesn’t tell you everything about my shape. But I’m very happy.”

Alexander Zverev

ATP

Carlos Alcaraz

Casper Ruud

Italian Open

Jannik Sinner

Lorenzo Musetti

Rome Masters

Tennis

Tommy Paul

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.