Rise and serve! – Jannik Sinner overcomes 'unusual' circumstances to defeat Cameron Norrie at Madrid Open – ‘We try to adapt’

Jannik Sinner dispatched Britain's Cameron Norrie in straight sets to book his place in the Madrid Open quarter-finals - but the World No. 1's routine victory came in "unusual" circumstances.

Norrie's run in the Spanish capital ended after a 6-2 7-5 defeat in under 90 minutes, as Sinner extended his winning streak to 20 matches.

But the 24-year-old, who will face Spain's Rafael Jodar in the last eight on Wednesday, revealed afterwards that he had to overcome an unfamiliar, additional obstacle to book his place in the next round - a rare 11:00 local start.

"It was quite unusual for me," Sinner said, when questioned about any changes in his routine to prepare for the morning court time.

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"I don’t know the last time I played at 11, but, for me, it doesn’t matter what time. I try to do my best. We try to adapt ourselves, our bodies and our minds. From my side, it was a good performance today."

In the first competitive meeting between the two players, Sinner rubbed away any lingering sleep to hold to love in the opening game before Norrie was eventually broken twice to concede the opening set.

Needing a response, the Brit roused himself to push his opponent all the way in the second set, but not without a moment of light showmanship which saw an underarm serve fail to clear the net.

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Video credit: SNTV

Norrie was broken in the fifth game, but Sinner immediately lost his serve as the world No. 23 reeled off seven straight points to bring the set back to 5-5.

Ultimately, he would be broken again as Sinner served out the match to become only the second player in history to win the first 20 Masters 1000 matches of the campaign, following on from Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2015.

Despite completing his first encounter with Norrie, Sinner said: "We know each other quite well. We practised a lot together in the past tournaments also, so we both kind of knew what to expect.

"I felt like I was serving quite well today in the important moments. This surface, it’s very different to all the other surfaces, so it’s quite tough to get the right feedback.

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"So sometimes you feel like you are not playing your best, but from the outside, it seems that you are, and sometimes it is also the opposite. But I’m very happy to be here in the quarters again."

Sinner will now face rising 19-year-old Jodar for a place in the semi-finals, after the talented Spaniard beat Vit Kopriva 7-5 6-0 in one hour and 25 minutes.

Rafael Jodar, Jannik Sinner's next opponent

Image credit: Getty Images

Madrid-born Jodar dominated the Czech after an even first set, but the teenager, with an eye on being seeded at Roland Garros, knows he will now have to play significantly better if he is to progress further.

Sinner, who will face Jodar for the first time in his career, went on to question the tournament's scheduling, comparing the start times with his next opponent.

"[Jodar] finished very, very late [on Sunday], but at the same time I feel like we need to make some adjustments to the scheduling of the day," he said.

"For matches at 8pm, it's very, very late, even though you have one day in between - still, it's very, very late.

"You finish at 1.30am, and you need to eat, you need to have treatment, so it's very late. We try to adapt ourselves, our bodies and minds."

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