Top-ranked Jannik Sinner passed a big test in his return from a three-month doping ban by beating accomplished clay-court player Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (2), 6-3 to reach the Italian Open quarterfinals.

Jannik has kept Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz behind despite missing three months of action and four Masters 1000 events. Thus, he will celebrate a notable milestone next week.

I need this,” the world No. 1 said of the tough run Francisco Cerundolo gave him in Rome. “Today I felt I raised my level.”

ROME—Jannik Sinner says it’s “a good thing for us tennis players” that the new pope likes to play the sport. Even if Leo XIV jokingly said he wouldn’t want to arrange a game with the top-ranked player—ostensibly because of his name.

Pope Leo XIV recently dubbed himself an amateur tennis player, but if he were to ever have a match at the Vatican, there would be one glaring omission.

Plastic sheets cover the field during a thunderstorm prior to the start round of sixteen match between Jannik Sinner and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome,

Jannik Sinner overcame his toughest challenge so far at the Rome Open, defeating an inspired Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(2), 6-3. This will be Sinner's second appearance in the Italian Open quarterfinals,