Sinner completes Career Golden Masters, beats Casper Ruud to win Italian Open

Jannik Sinner arrived at the Italian Open final with history in reach and left Rome with two milestones at once. The world No. 1 beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 on May 17 at the Foro Italico, ending a 50-year wait for an Italian men’s champion at the event and completing the Career Golden Masters. ATP Tour and other tournament coverage said the Rome title gave Sinner all nine ATP Masters 1000 crowns, a feat previously achieved only by Novak Djokovic. The victory also sent Sinner into Roland-Garros with a 29-match winning streak, according to AP coverage carried by multiple outlets. That run has been built across the first five Masters 1000 events of 2026, with Sinner winning Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and now Rome before the clay-court major in Paris. ### How rare is the Career Golden Masters? The ATP Tour said Sinner completed the full set of Masters 1000 titles with the Rome win, making him the second man to do it after Djokovic. The category covers the top tier of ATP events below the four Grand Slams and the year-end Finals. Olympics.com said Sinner is also the youngest man to complete that collection. The result added another benchmark to a season in which he has already swept the first five Masters 1000 tournaments on the calendar. ### What happened in the final against Casper Ruud? Casper Ruud entered the match as one of the tour’s strongest clay-court players, but Sinner controlled the key moments. AP reported that Sinner won 6-4, 6-4 and became the first Italian man to lift the Rome trophy since Adriano Panatta in 1976. The ATP Tour said the title was Sinner’s sixth successive Masters 1000 crown. Ruud, who had been seeking one of the biggest titles of his season, was denied by a player who has not lost for three months, according to AP’s account of Sinner’s run into Paris. ### Why did the Rome title matter beyond the trophy? Rome gave Sinner a home title and a place in Italian tennis history at the same time. Olympics.com and AP both said no Italian man had won the event in 50 years. The timing also sharpened the focus on Roland-Garros. AP said Sinner is chasing a career Grand Slam in Paris because the French Open is the only major missing from his résumé. ### What does the 29-match streak actually cover? AP said Sinner’s 29-match winning streak spans the stretch from the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami through the clay of Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome. That sequence means he has won the first five Masters 1000 tournaments of 2026. Fox Sports, in a version of the AP report, said the streak has put Sinner in position to arrive in Paris as the tour’s form player. The run has come while he has dominated across surfaces rather than in a single swing of the calendar. ### What happens next in Paris? Roland-Garros said Opening Week began on May 18, with qualifying underway in Paris and the men’s and women’s main draw set to begin on May 24. The official tournament site said the qualifying draws were made on May 17. The next milestone for Sinner is the French Open main draw, which starts on Sunday, May 24, at Stade Roland-Garros. The event runs through June 7, according to official tournament scheduling.