Sinner survives Bonzi scare to extend Masters winning streak to 23
Bonzi took a set off the world No 1, created 13 break points, and gave the Caja Mágica a Friday evening worth watching. Sinner (No 1) won 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4 – and then, as he always does, found a higher gear when he needed it.
Jannik Sinner, 2026 | ©
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.
“It was not a surprise, it was somewhat expected”, Sinner said after the match. “First rounds are always very difficult to play, especially here in Madrid, with really tricky conditions, so I am happy to have turned the match around. Mentally, today was not easy, so I am pleased with this performance.”
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.
Madrid’s special conditions
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.
“I played a very good match and there is just a little frustration about that small pain in the ribs in the second set that knocked me off the thread I had in my head, which I had managed to hold very well throughout the first set”, Bonzi said, as quoted by L’Equipe. “That little hitch made me think back to last year against Taylor Fritz (retirement in Madrid in the third round). I lost a bit of energy and concentration, and at this level that costs you. I called the physio and it reassured me that the pain did not persist – I managed to produce a real set at the end.”
“But it is a shame, because there were so many good things. I was making life difficult for him, I felt good on the court, I was serving pretty well. I was solid from the baseline and in the patterns I wanted to impose on him.”
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.
“Obviously I know that if I want to go deep I need to improve, I need to raise my level, but I also know that every day is different and I hope that will be the case” Sinner added.
The Italian 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.
