In a drama-filled, rain-interrupted semi-final clash that stretched across two days at Rome’s Foro Italico, home favorite Jannik Sinner delivered a gritty performance to defeat Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 on Saturday, booking his spot in the Italian Open men’s singles final. The world No. 1 will face Norway’s Casper Ruud in Sunday’s title match, where he will chase a historic sixth Masters 1000 crown, a feat that would extend his existing record for the most titles in the elite ATP series this season.
The semi-final encounter, which spanned two and a half hours of on-court action, had already delivered unprecedented tension on Friday night. During the opening session of the match, Sinner was forced to receive medical attention for a tight right thigh, and even suffered a bout of vomiting mid-match, as Medvedev pushed the Italian to his toughest test of the entire tournament. When persistent rain forced play to be suspended, Sinner held a 4-2 lead in the deciding third set.
After days of erratic weather, warm spring sunlight finally broke through in Rome on Saturday, but further delays disrupted the schedule. The restart, originally scheduled for 3:00 pm local time, was pushed back an hour by a final late rain shower and the conclusion of the men’s doubles semi-final, which was won by Sinner’s Italian compatriots Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori. When play finally resumed, Sinner looked far fresher than he had on Friday: he had joked and played casual football with his coaching staff during his pre-restart warm-up in the underground spaces of the centre court arena, his good spirits a stark contrast to his physical struggle the previous night.
Though Medvedev claimed the seventh game of the third set to cut Sinner’s lead, the Italian dominated from that point onward, taking the next game without dropping a point on his own serve before closing out the match in under 20 minutes. The win marks Sinner’s 33rd consecutive victory in ATP Masters 1000 events, extending his incredible unbeaten run in the top-tier tour.
In the other semi-final held Saturday, Ruud produced a stunning 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Italian wildcard Luciano Darderi, a result that also was interrupted by heavy rain. For Ruud, the final presents a rare opportunity for revenge: he has never taken a single set off Sinner in four previous head-to-head encounters, including a humiliating 6-0, 6-1 defeat in the 2025 Italian Open quarter-finals, one of the most one-sided matches in the venue’s history.
The women’s singles final will follow the men’s decider on Sunday, with 2024 runner-up Coco Gauff of the United States aiming to go one step further and claim her first Italian Open title against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina. Gauff, who is preparing to defend her French Open crown at Roland Garros next month, fell short against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in last year’s Rome final.