Imperious Sinner marches into Monte-Carlo quarter-finals

Italian Jannik Sinner extended his 2024 record to 24-1 after he beat German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the last eight of the Monte-Carlo Masters.

The world No 2, who won the Australian Open in January, will face the winner of the match between Dane Holger Rune, the No 7 seed, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 9 seed, next.

“He’s a very dangerous player,” Sinner said of Struff. “I had to be very, very careful. I know it was going to be a very tough match but I returned well, especially on the second serve. I’m very happy to be into the quarter-final.”

The 22-year-old Italian defeated American Sebastian Korda (6-1, 6-2) in the previous round of the Monte-Carlo tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Struff, ranked No 25, beat Argentinian Sebastian Baez (1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2) and Croat Borna Coric (7-6 (2), 6-1).

Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 5.950.575, most recent results first):

• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Casper Ruud
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Ugo Humbert
• Holger Rune vs. Grigor Dimitrov: thursday
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Lorenzo Musetti: 7-5, 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (12) beat Alexander Zverev (5): 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Karen Khachanov (15) beat Daniil Medvedev (4): 6-3, 7-5
• Alex De Minaur (11) beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-3, 6-4