Jannik Sinner Breaks 50-Year Drought and Matches Novak Djokovic's Record with Italian Masters Win

An Italian man is the Italian Open champion for the first time in 50 years.

Jannik Sinner defeated Casper Ruud in Sunday's final, 6-4, 6-4, and became the first Italian man to win the country's tournament since Adriano Panatta did so 50 years ago, per Andrew Dampf of the Associated Press.

Fittingly, Panatta was in attendance and part of the trophy ceremony.

"Adriano, after 50 years we've won back a very important trophy," Sinner said.

That wasn't his only accomplishment, as the triumph means he became just the second man in tennis history to win all nine Masters 1000 events. Novak Djokovic was the first to accomplish the feat and finished his career set in Cincinnati in 2018.

Sinner is on fire at this point, and there is no reason to expect him to do anything but continue to add to his trophy case.

He has won 29 consecutive matches with his last loss coming on Feb. 19 at the Qatar Open. He is also now 17-0 on clay this year, which is all the more notable with Roland Garros looming.

Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam title that Sinner hasn't won, and he will surely be seen as the favorite with Carlos Alcaraz sidelined by a wrist injury.

As for Sunday's match, Ruud hung tough in a match that was decided by just a handful of breaks. But Sinner was too strong with the serve and saved one of the two break points Ruud created.

In all, Sinner won 83 percent of his first-service points and controlled the match on his way to making history.