Rain Halts Sinner, Medvedev Semifinal – Ruud Advances

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Tullio Puglia/FITP)

ROME/WASHINGTON, May 15, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

After his record-setting day in reaching the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals, which included breaking the record for the longest ATP Masters 1000 winning streak in series history (32), World No. 1 Jannik Sinner aimed to become the first Italian man to reach back-to-back Rome finals in the Open Era when he took to Court Centrale at Foro Italico on Friday evening to face World No. 9 Daniil Medvedev of Russia.

The 24-year-old South Tyrolean also attempted to reach his 14th ATP Masters 1000 final to become just the second man to reach the title match at six consecutive ATP Masters 1000 events after Novak Djokovic (2015-16) and the second man to reach the finals of all of the first five ATP Masters 1000 events in a season (first done by Rafael Nadal in 2011).

However, following a 75-minute rain delay in the third set, with the semifinal tied at a set each and Sinner ahead of Medvedev 4-2, play was cancelled for the remainder of Friday evening. Sinner and Medvedev will return to Campo Centrale to resume their semifinal Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The winner will face World No. 25 Casper Ruud of Norway, who advanced past World No. 20 Luciano Darderi of Italy, 6-1, 6-1, in 65 minutes, sandwiched around a two-hour rain interruption that delayed the inevitable outcome.

For the first set of the second semifinal, the top-seeded Sinner was in command against the No. 7 seed Medvedev from first ball and easily won the first four games en route to taking the set 6-2.

Then, Medvedev rebounded in the second set to win 7-5, and handed Sinner his first set loss of the tournament, after the Italian No. 1 saved a couple of set points. 

In the decider, Sinner broke to go ahead 2-1 and consolidated the break with a solid hold. Then, ahead 4-2, it began to rain and at 40-all, chair umpire Aurelie Torte came down from her perch to check the lines and gave the OK to continue.

However, Sinner voiced his displeasure at her decision, while Medvedev was willing to continue. Finally, with the rain intensifying, play was halted at 9:46 p.m., and the tarp was placed over the Court Centrale red-brick surface, following two hours and 22 minutes of play, with Sinner leading 4-2 and Medvedev serving ahead Ad-40 in the seventh game.

Meanwhile, in the first semifinal, the 23rd seed Ruud reached his first Rome final by racing past the No. 18 seed Darderi in both sets. Despite a two-hour rain delay, Ruud maintained his focus and did not suffer the same heartbreak he must have felt after falling at the semifinal stage in three previous occasions.

Ruud’s victory in his first meeting against Darderi – which was his fourth Top-20 win of the Rome fortnight – lifted him to within one victory of winning his second ATP Masters 1000 crown, following his Madrid triumph last year. He became just the sixth active player to reach the championship final at all three clay-court Masters 1000 events (Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome). Ruud was a 2024 finalist at Monte-Carlo.

“It feels great. I am a bit sorry for Luciano, playing at home and not with the most energy,” Ruud said during his on-court interview with ATP Media afterward. “But it is understandable. He finished at 2:30 a.m., the other night. What a tournament he has had and luckily for me I was done much earlier that day and had a little more time to recover and get ready.”

Ruud finished with 20 winners to 16 unforced errors, compared to nine winner and 23 unforced errors by Darderi. Ruud converted six of nine break-point opportunities, was broken just once by his Italian opponent and outpointed Darderi 58-32.

“It is my 10th semifinal at a [Masters] 1000 and his first, so you try to use that experience to your advantage and I think I did well today. He was maybe a little bit stressed or a little bit nervous for the occasion. I just tried to stay in focus … I think I did well.”

Ruud, who is through to his tour-leading 18th clay-court final in this decade, will return to the ATP Top 20 next week after dropping to No. 25 after Madrid.

During his post-match news conference, Ruud was asked his thoughts about the possibility of facing Sinner in the title match.

“Well, I just have to try to approach it as any other match, try not to think about the big wave in front kind of with all the momentum he’s building, all the confidence and the records that he’s kind of building and breaking,” Ruud said.

“At the end of the day, he’s human. I have to try to think that way as much as I can. Last year, I was kind of blown out of the court by him. We will both remember it, of course. I hope that’s not the case.

“I will just try to stay in my lane, stay focused on the things I’m doing well, know that against him you have to not raise your level but two or three times in order to hang with him. That’s the goal I will think about for tomorrow in practice and the match.”

Around the Foro Italico

The men’s doubles semifinal line-up was completed after the last two quarterfinal-round matches took place Friday on Supertennis Arena.

In the first match, No. 1 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain were upset by home favorites and No. 7 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy, 7-5, 7-6 (4), in an hour and 47 minutes.  The Italians outpointed the Finnish/British duo 74-70.

Then, No. 4 seeds Christian Harrison of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain upset defending champions and this year’s No. 5 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, 6-4, 6-4, in 70 minutes. Harrison and Skupski outpointed Arevalo and Pavic 58-46.

On Saturday, Harrison and Skupski will face Bolelli and Vavassori in the semifinal round with a berth in Sunday’s final. The other semifinal will pair No. 2 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina against unseeded Austin Krajcicek of the United States and Nikola Mektic of Croatia.      

Friday’s Italian Open results

Saturday’s Italian Open order of play

By the numbers

Jannik Sinner has reached the finals of five straight ATP Masters 1000 events. The record is seven, held by Novak Djokovic, which he set from Rome 2015 through Miami 2016.

“Quotable …”

“This year [is] the first time I’ve won something big on clay. But this is also the confidence of the process what we are trying to produce year after year. Also, physically I’m getting stronger. I think it’s a mix of everything.

“That experience, to play certain points in a better way, yeah, but mostly I feel like physically if you improve, it helps you a lot on clay.”

– World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, during his post-match news conference Thursday explaining what changes he made in his game on clay this year.

 

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