Sinner survives Bonzi scare to extend Masters winning streak to 23

Jannik Sinner, the top seed, edged out Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open, but the world No 1 was made to work harder than the scoreline suggests before extending his winning run in Masters 1000 events to 23 matches.

Bonzi, ranked No 104, took the opening set in a tiebreak – the one moment in the match where he genuinely threatened. He did not earn a single break point against Sinner’s serve across the entire match. It was Sinner who created 13, converting three — one in the second set, two in the third — after struggling to impose himself in the opener.

The Italian missed five break-point chances before losing the tiebreak 8-6, a sequence that illustrated his difficulty reading the pace and bounce of a court he had described before the tournament as unlike any other on the circuit.

The conditions in Madrid — high altitude, fast clay, unpredictable bounce — had unsettled Sinner visibly in the first set. He said before the tournament he was still figuring out how to play here, and Bonzi, who had won three matches on these courts across qualifying and the main draw, understood the surface better in the early stages.

Once Sinner adjusted, there was only one outcome. He took the second set 6-1 and closed out the third 6-4 with the kind of controlled authority that has made him nearly unbeatable over the past six months.

He has won 40 of his last 42 matches and 46 of the last 48 sets he has played in Masters events. Friday produced his 18th consecutive win overall and his 23rd straight in Masters 1000 competition – a run that has consumed Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. Madrid is the only Masters 1000 event where he has never reached the semi-finals. Dane Elmer Moller awaits in the third round.