MIAMI: Jannik Sinner surpassed Novak Djokovic’s 10-year record for most consecutive sets won at ATP Masters 1000 events by dismantling Frenchman Corentin Moutet at the Miami Open.
Italian world number two Sinner, 24, recorded his 25th and 26th straight sets at the sport’s highest level of tournaments below the Grand Slams in a commanding 71-minute 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Sinner had equalled 24-time major champion Djokovic’s previous record of 24 straight sets won in beating Damir Dzumhur in his opening match.
“I am very happy. This sport is unpredictable, so we try to keep attention as much as we can and we’ll see what is coming in the next round,” Sinner said.
Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam winner, has triumphed at the past two Masters 1000 tournaments winning at Indian Wells earlier this month and Paris in November - without losing a set.
The former world number one was dominant from the start against Moutet, winning 19 of the first 26 points of the match before taking the first set in 22 minutes.
Sinner then clinched his fourth break point to end Moutet’s resistance in the fifth game of the second set before serving his way to victory untroubled.
He will meet American Alex Michelsen in the last 16 as he seeks to continue his bid to become the first man to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ - winning Indian Wells and the Miami Open backto-back - since Roger Federer achieved the feat in 2017.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka made swift work of her match against Zheng Qinwen to cruise into the quarter finals.
The reigning champion took just an hour and 25 minutes to beat her Chinese opponent 6-3, 6-4.
Sabalenka, 27, has won the US Open in each of the past two years and looks in serene form. She will face Hailey Baptiste in the last eight after the American defeated Latvian Jelena Ostapenko - also by a 6-3, 6-4 margin.
Fourth seed Coco Gauff also reached the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania.