Andrea Pellegrino has reached the round of 16 of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career, and now the 29-year-old from Puglia gets the biggest stage of his run in Rome: Jannik Sinner at the Foro Italico.
Pellegrino came through qualifying in Rome, beat Martin Landaluce there, then kept going with wins over Arthur Fils after the Frenchman retired and Frances Tiafoe to secure his place among the last 16. It is the sort of week that can change a player’s standing overnight, and it has put a qualifier from southern Italy in front of the top name in the draw.
The number that gives this run its weight is not just the ranking gap or the setting. It is the sequence of opponents Pellegrino has already beaten to get here. For a player who had never previously moved past qualifying at a Grand Slam, reaching this stage in Rome is a clear breakthrough, and it has come with the home crowd behind him every step of the way.
Pellegrino is also a familiar face in the locker room, well liked by other players, which has made the reaction to his week in Rome even warmer. In a tournament that now stretches over two weeks, the ATP’s expanded Masters 1000 format has created more openings for players outside the top 100, and Pellegrino has taken one of them. He has done it in front of a partisan Italian crowd that has helped carry him through the toughest moments of his matches.
The next opponent is the one he will know best. Pellegrino and Sinner played each other in the final in Santa Margherita di Pula in 2019, when Sinner won 6-1, 6-1. Pellegrino said he remembered the defeat clearly and said he did not remember much more than losing badly that day. That memory now returns in a much bigger arena, with Rome’s center court offering him a chance to measure how far he has come.
For Pellegrino, the story is no longer about whether he can get through qualifying. It is about whether a player who has already turned one run in Rome into the best week of his career can make the home favorite uncomfortable when the match arrives at the Foro Italico.
