The performance of Italian players at their biggest home tournament has been impressive. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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

Ruud managed to win just seven points in the first set and, by the time he finally won a game, raised his arms in mock celebration. Sinner said before the Italian Open that he had