Jannik Sinner and Casper Ruud headline a fine day of tennis on Thursday, with the Italian Open spoilt for quality.
And, the home fans had already been given what they wanted early on when Jasmine Paolini became the first to secure a spot in the final in her home tournament, beating Peyton Stearns in straight sets.
Sinner is up next to continue his run, while Lorenzo Musetti will seek to achieve that feat a day later against Carlos Alcaraz.
Given this is his very first tournament since Sinner was banned from tennis, the ease with which he has cruised into the quarter-finals may have stunned many. For Laura Robson, however, this was inevitable.
What Jannik Sinner did during his tennis ban
Speaking live on Sky Sports Tennis, during their pre-match coverage of Jannik Sinner’s Italian Open clash with Casper Ruud, Gigi Salmon quizzed her fellow pundits on their thoughts of the clash.
After all, it promised fireworks, pitting the unrelenting quality of the Italian against the in-form clay-court mastery of the Norwegian.
Asked about the former specifically though, Robson offered an insight into exactly what Sinner did during his three-month absence from the sport which has helped him soar straight back into action.
She claimed: ‘I know he was practising for the majority of the time, every time I’ve spoken to his team. He had a couple of weeks off but after that he was locked in to make it worth his while and making sure he was ready physically to come back to the very top level of the tour.
‘He looks stronger than ever before in my eyes; he’s definitely put on a couple of kilos of muscle. He looks mentally really fresh. He’s been tested in a handful of sets this week but not really. The level that we saw at the end of last year in Turin is still there.’
Jannik Sinner poised for remarkable Roland Garros return
Although it would have proved near-impossible to remove him from his perch at the top of the ATP Rankings during his spell away from the sport, it still seems quite laughable that Sinner will remain the number one seed heading into the French Open later this month.
Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
And, should he taste victory at this event, that lead is set to only grow.
Not only that, but with Carlos Alcaraz beating Jack Draper, he secured the second seed, thus setting up the potential for a bumper final between the two very best tennis players in the world.