The Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarter-final between Jannik Sinner and Casper Ruud promised to be a blockbuster. On paper, it featured the Italian tennis star, the World No. 1, and the Norwegian tennis star,

Or maybe Jannik Sinner just likes playing against Casper Ruud.Whatever it was, the top-ranked Sinner cranked up his level to near-perfection in a 6-0, 6-1 dismantling of Ruud in the Italian Open quarterfinals on Thursday — a day after Sinner was granted a private audience with the new tennis-playing pope just down the road at the Vatican.

Casper Ruud was left stunned by Jannik Sinner ’s performance in the World No 1’s 6-0 6-1 victory against him in the Italian Open quarter-finals. Ruud came into the match in-form after winning the Madrid Open but home favourite Sinner dismantled the Norwegian in just 63 minutes.