It will be men’s semifinals day at the Rome Masters on Friday, with two Italians among those in action. Jannik Sinner continues his title bid against Daniil Medvedev, while Luciano Darderi faces Casper Ruud.
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. (7) Daniil Medvedev
Sinner has won five consecutive Masters 1000 titles and — in an otherwise surprising semifinal lineup — is a massive favorite to win another one at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. It would complete the set of all nine Masters 1000 trophies for the top-ranked Italian, who has never triumphed in front of the home crowd in Rome. It looks like things will be different this time around, though, as Sinner has maintained his utterly dominant form with straight-set victories over Sebastian Ofner, Alexei Popyrin, Andrea Pellegrino, and Andrey Rublev.
Up next for the 24-year-old on Friday is a 17th showdown against Medvedev. Sinner leads their head-to-head series 9-7, but that hardly tells the real story. He is 9-1 against Medvedev since losing their first six encounters, and the Russian has prevailed only once since the 2023 Miami Open (a five-setter at Wimbledon in 2024). Medvedev almost got bounced from Rome by lucky loser Martin Landaluce on Thursday, but the world No. 9 battled to a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 success after two hours and 23 minutes. Although Sinner looked like somewhat of a physical question mark in the quarterfinals, if anything that will inspire him to get off the court as quickly as possible on Friday.
Pick: Sinner in 2
(23) Casper Ruud vs. (18) Luciano Darderi
Surprisingly, Darderi and Ruud will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Friday. That’s right; despite frequently going deep at all kinds of clay-court tournaments, Darderi and Ruud have somehow managed to avoid each other in draws — until now.
That it is finally happening in the Rome semifinals is a considerable shock. Darderi has been a force at ATP 250s over the past couple of seasons, but he had never done much at the Masters 1000 level. Although the 20th-ranked Italian appeared to be on his way out of this event on Tuesday, he saved four match points to upset Alexander Zverev 1-6, 7-6(10), 6-0. Darderi then battled Rafael Jodar for more than three hours well into the night on Wednesday. Ruud, on the other hand, had little trouble getting past Zachary Svajda, Jiri Lehecka, Lorenzo Musetti, and Karen Khachanov. The Italian crowd should help Darderi hang around for a while, but the two-time Roland Garros runner-up is the clear favorite in this matchup for a reason.
Pick: Ruud in 3