Home TENNIS Madrid Open 2026 QFs: Sabalenka Out, Sinner, Ruud, Fils Advance

Madrid Open 2026 QFs: Sabalenka Out, Sinner, Ruud, Fils Advance

Read
Hailey Baptiste
Baptiste stuns Sabalenka in Madrid

Hailey Baptiste ends Sabalenka’s 15-match streak 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) in Madrid QFs. Sinner, Ruud, Fils also reach quarters after marathon battles.


Baptiste upsets defending champion Sabalenka to reach Madrid Open semis, Sinner through. The Italian urges Madrid Open to avoid late finishes as Jodar, Ruud win thrillers...


Hailey Baptiste ended Aryna Sabalenka’s Madrid title defence on Tuesday, snapping the world No. 1’s 15-match winning streak with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) quarter-final win in the tournament’s biggest upset so far.

  
The American saved five match points at 4-5 in the decider and a sixth in the tiebreak before handing Sabalenka only her second loss of the year, and her first since the Australian Open final three months ago.


 

Sabalenka is a three-time Madrid champion and had made the final in each of the last three editions, but couldn’t hold off 30th seed Baptiste. The American fired huge serves and ultra-aggressive groundstrokes to reach her first WTA 1000 semi-final.


Baptiste delivered huge serves at key moments - ending with 12 aces and 10 double faults - and even saved a match point with a daring serve-and-volley to seal the memorable two-hour, 30-minute win.


 

Baptiste, 24, next faces ninth seed Mirra Andreeva, who earned an early birthday present by beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 7-6(1), 6-3 to make her first Madrid semi-final.


The Russian teenager, who turns 19 Wednesday, recently won the title in Linz and lifted her clay-court record to 11-1 this season.



  
Earlier Tuesday, Jannik Sinner said Madrid Open organisers should rethink their scheduling to prevent late-night finishes like Rafael Jodar’s third-round match on Sunday.


In a rare 11:00 am start Tuesday, Sinner beat British 19th seed Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals.

 
He said he was scheduled first on Manolo Santana Stadium so potential next opponent Jodar could play in the afternoon, giving the Spaniard time to recover from his three-set win over Joao Fonseca that finished at 1:00 am Monday morning.


Sinner Opens Play Early After Late-Night Finish Debate

“It's quite unusual for me,” Sinner told Tennis TV about his early kick-off.


“There was a question whether it would be me or Jodar to play at four. But I think it's right that he plays at four, because he finished very, very late.


“But at the same time, I feel like we need to make some adjustments to the scheduling of the day. Two matches (starting) from 8 pm is very late.


“Even though you have one day in between. But still it's very, very late.


“You finish at 1:30 am, and you need to eat, you need to have treatment, so it's very late. But we try to adapt ourselves, our bodies, our minds, so from my side it was a good performance today.”




Sinner, chasing his first semi-final in the Spanish capital, next plays 19-year-old Jodar in a highly anticipated quarter-final clash.

 
Jodar’s dream run on home soil rolled on with a dominant 7-5, 6-0 win over world No. 66 Vit Kopriva.


Casper Ruud rallied from the brink to keep his title defence alive, beating former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 7-6(3).


In a high-quality three-hour battle, Tsitsipas led 5-3 in the decider, held two match points, and served for the win at 5-4. But Ruud, 0/11 on break points until then, finally broke the Greek and closed out the tiebreak.


Ruud will face 21-year-old Belgian Alexander Blockx for a place in the semi-finals.

 
Last week’s Barcelona champion Arthur Fils moved into the Caja Magica quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Argentine 25th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

 
The Frenchman will face Jiri Lehecka, who defeated sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-3, for a spot in the semi-finals.




Tags :

No comments:

Leave comment here

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
Powered by Blogger.