Between the illness that forced him to withdraw in Indian Wells, the blistered foot that led to his retirement in Miami, and the abdominal issue that troubled him against Borna Coric earlier this week, Jannik Sinner has become accustomed to adversity of late.
The Italian’s problems continued in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals, where he found himself a set and a break down against fifth seed Andrey Rublev, and once again struggling with a deep blister on his right foot. That Sinner recovered to win the next six games before sealing a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory said as much about the 20-year-old’s resilience and ability to feed off the energy of the raucous Italian contingent in the stands as it did to a bizarre implosion on the part of Rublev, who seemed to be at war with himself from the outset.
Normally such a placid and unassuming soul, Sinner cut a frustrated figure in the early stages. Over the course of a first set in which he racked up 25 unforced errors, frustrated glances towards Simone Vagnozzi, the Italian coach who replaced his long-term mentor Riccardo Piatti in February, became ever more frequent. Bad bounces were greeted with sarcastic gestures at the court, bad shots by equally sardonic gesticulations at his box. At one point, the 20-year-old even kicked an advertising block. True to his nature, he quickly atoned by placing it back in position.
Maybe it was something in the Mediterranean air because, down at the other end, Rublev was barely in less irascible mood. A finalist in Monte Carlo last year, the Russian arrived in the principality with plenty of cause for optimism after winning back-to-back titles in Marseille and Dubai and reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells. Here though, having navigated his way fairly comfortably to a 5-4, 30-0 lead, Rublev became strangely becalmed. A mishit forehand careered of skywards. Sinner rifled a backhand winner down the winner. The crowd erupted in jubilation, which continued as Rublev nervously netted a backhand, and reached a football-style crescendo when he subsequently double-faulted to hand his opponent the game.
Rublev looked distinctly unamused, and there was a feeling of catharsis about the ferocious roar he emitted after breaking again in the next game. Yet, after seeing out the set and claiming an early break in the second, the wheels came off for the Russian. As Rublev served at 1-0, 30-0, the match seemingly on his racket, Sinner gestured to Richard Haigh, the British chair umpire, to ask for the trainer at the next changeover. Haigh immediately radioed through the request. The exchange was over in seconds but Rublev, who promptly double-faulted and then fired a searing forehand millimetres wide, felt he had been delayed.
The Muscovite’s mood darkened further when Sinner capped a 26-shot baseline exchange with a brilliant winning drop shot and, when Rublev subsequently sent a backhand long to concede the game, he approached the chair to remonstrate with Haigh. That sparked a chorus of boos and whistles and, as the crowd redoubled their support for Sinner, a dramatic turnaround began.
As Rublev’s service waned, his first-serve success rate falling from 79% in the opener to a paltry 33%, Sinner’s confidence waxed. The Italian had his blistered toe rewrapped, after which winners flowed from his racket. With them came six games in succession.
Rublev stopped the rot in the opening game of the decider, but his race was effectively run. An early exchange of breaks merely delayed the inevitable as Sinner, drinking in the encouragement that flowed freely from the stands, fired a forehand approach for a winner to reclaim the advantage at 3-2. He would lose only one more game.
“It was tough, I tried to play every point,” said Sinner, who will face second seed Alexander Zverev after reaching his second successive Masters 1000 quarter-final. “I know him quite well, because he goes quite a lot with the forehand. I tried to move him a little bit. And obviously with the crowd, it’s unbelievable playing here. It is for me very, very special.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed and defending champion, advanced to the last eight with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) win over Laslo Djere of Serbia. The Greek will face Diego Schwartzman, the 12th seed, who came from behind to beat another young Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
In the top half, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated David Goffin 6-4, 6-1. The Spaniard, who upset top seed Novak Djokovic in the second round, will now play Taylor Fritz, the 10th-seeded American, who ran out a 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 winner over his compatriot Sebastian Korda, conqueror of eighth seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Grigor Dimitrov beat fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-5 to set up a showdown with Hubert Hurkacz, who saw off the Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.