Very few venues on tour offer the late night spectacle of the Madrid Open. It may have been Wednesday, with Real Madrid playing for a spot in the Champions League final, but the fans turned out until the early hours, proving the love for tennis that reigns in the Spanish capital.
In response, the players put on a show and it all concluded with a mammoth three setter between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Albert Ramos. The Frenchman ended up taking the win in two hours and 41 minutes with an incredibly tight 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline. Tsonga now leads his head to head with the Spaniard by 4-0 but it had always been far more straightforward than tonight’s affaire. Up next for the Frenchman is Milos Raonic in the last sixteen.
Today also signalled the end of Juan Martin Del Potro’s run in Madrid after an emotional victory against Dominic Thiem which he catalogued as his best victory since returning from injury. The Argentine’s aspirations were dashed in straight sets (6-4, 7-6) by Jack Sock who is navigating surprisingly well on European clay for an American player. It’s been a long time since a player from across the pond made an impact on this period of the season but Sock most definitely has the game to achieve big results on this surface and he’ll feel he has an opportunity when he faces Joao Sousa for a place in the quarter finals.
Most of the excitement may have come on the court but there was a truly bizarre moment off it this evening when Gael Monfils and Pablo Cuevas had to switch courts after a portion of the floodlights blew out on the Arantxa Sanchez Vicario Court. The surprising thing is that they were moved to Court 3 where Madison Keys and Patricia Maria Tig were booted off despite already being on court. The two female players refused to move but eventually they had no choice but to wait for Monfils and Cuevas to finish off their match which ended 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in the Uruguayan’s favour. Another consequence of this court reshuffle was that Del Potro and Sock were moved to the non-televised court six, which drew various complaints, particularly from Argentina, as fans were unable to watch the outcome.
All in all, it was a drama-filled day at the Madrid Open and it promises to be even better tomorrow as the sixteen remaining players battle it out for a berth in the quarter finals.
