(Rome) The Russian Andrey Rublev, world No.6, and the Italian Jannik Sinner, world No.8, were stopped in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome on Tuesday, a dozen days before Roland-Garros ( May 28-June 11).

Rublev, victorious in his first Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo in mid-April, was surprised 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3 by the 101e world player, the German Yannick Hanfmann, from the qualifications.

The day before, it was Carlos Alcaraz, who will nevertheless return to world No.1 on Monday, who had been surprised in the second round of the Italian tournament by another player from qualifying and ranked beyond the Top 100 (135e), the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.

Sinner lost to Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (31e) 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2. Since the start of the clay-court season, the 21-year-old Italian had reached the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo (beaten by Rune), then the quarter-finals in Barcelona (beaten by Musetti), before making the stalemate on Madrid.

Both Rublev and Sinner spent around two and a half hours on the Roman courts on Tuesday, to no avail.

In the quarter-finals, Cerundolo will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud, world No.4, who seems to find some colors in the Italian capital, he who has just won three games in a row only for the second time this season (five at best).

Hanfmann will challenge him either the world N.3 Daniil Medvedev, or the ex-N. 2 global today 22e Alexander Zverev, for his very first quarter-final in Masters 1000, at 31 years old. He is already guaranteed to jump to the gates of the top 60 in the next ATP ranking.