Home favourite Jannik Sinner continued his quest for a maiden Italian Open crown by beating Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets in the last 16.

Sinner needed two hours and 18 minutes to book his place in the quarter-finals in Rome, eventually prevailing 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 against a stubborn opponent.

Sinner got the upper hand in the opening set with a fifth-game break, though Cerundolo refused to go away quietly, converting the fifth break point he generated in a gruelling game six.

The set stayed on serve from there with a tie-break required, and after losing his first point on serve, Sinner went through the gears to take the advantage.

Cerundolo failed to beat the net with a delicate drop-shot on Sinner's first set point, and the Italian carried that momentum into the second set.

Back-to-back breaks in games four and six put him 5-1 up and cruising towards the quarter-finals, only for Cerundolo to reel off back-to-back games and claw his way back into it.

However, Sinner held his nerve in another gruelling game, with a big serve proving unreturnable for Cerundolo on his fourth match point.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will join Sinner in the last eight following a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 triumph over Arthur Fils.

The players shared four breaks of serve equally in a highly competitive first set, with the defending champion showing his class in a tie-break.

The second set was far more routine for Zverev, who reeled off three straight breaks of serve to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with Lorenzo Musetti.

5 - Two Italian players (Jannik #Sinner and Lorenzo #Musetti) have reached the Men's Singles quarter-finals at the Italian Open the same season for the fifth time in the Open Era. Duo.#IBI25 | @InteBNLdItalia @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/09GSycAHAK

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) May 13, 2025

Data debrief: Sinner's half-century

This was Sinner's 50th victory as the ATP's top-ranked player, in just his 53rd outing as the world number one.

Since the ATP rankings were first published in 1973, that is the joint-fewest matches required to reach 50 wins as the world number one, along with Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg.

The 23-year-old has also become the third-youngest player in the Open Era to win his first 10 ATP-level matches in consecutive seasons, older only than Jim Courier (1992-93) and Roger Federer (2004-05).