Madrid Open Daily Preview: Former Champions Alcaraz and Zverev Meet in the Fourth Round - UBITENNIS
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Madrid Open Daily Preview: Former Champions Alcaraz and Zverev Meet in the Fourth Round

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Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday in Madrid (twitter.com/MutuaMadridOpen)

All fourth round men’s singles matches will take place on Tuesday, as well as the first two women’s singles quarterfinals.

In a match between two recent Madrid champions, defending champ Carlos Alcaraz takes on two-time champ Sascha Zverev.  The day also sees two all-Russian encounters, as Andrey Rublev faces Karen Khachanov, and Daniil Medvedev plays Aslan Karatsev.  And other fourth round ATP action includes Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz.

Tuesday’s WTA quarterfinals feature 2021 champ Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Major semifinalist Maria Sakkari.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Tuesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.


Karen Khachanov (10) vs. Andrey Rublev (5) – 11:00am on Manolo Santana Stadium

Rublev is 23-9 on the year, and 10-1 across the past three weeks on clay, which includes claiming the biggest title of his career in Monte Carlo.  He defeated both Stan Wawrinka and Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets to reach this quarterfinal.

Khachanov is 18-8 in 2023, and 5-2 on this surface.  He’s outlasted the opposition in two three-setters thus far, including a near three-hour battle with Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday.

These friends and doubles partners, who are still alive in the men’s doubles draw, have split six meetings at all levels.  But Rublev took the only one on clay, which occurred just a few weeks ago in this same round of Monte Carlo.  And with Andrey being the fresher of the two, he should be favored to advance to the Madrid quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Sascha Zverev (13)  – Not Before 4:00pm on Manolo Santana Stadium

Alcaraz is 25-2 this season, despite missing all of January due to injury.  He’s now won 17 straight matches in his home country, after taking out Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets on Sunday. 

Zverev is just 12-11, as he continues to regain his form after the serious ankle injury he suffered nearly a year ago at Roland Garros.  He dominated French qualifier Hugo Grenier in the last round, dropping just one game.

Sascha is 3-1 against Carlitos, though they are 1-1 on clay.  Last year in the final of this event, Alcaraz crushed Zverev 6-3, 6-1, just a day after playing a three-and-a-half hour marathon against Novak Djokovic.  But a few weeks later in the quarterfinals of the French Open, Zverev would avenge that loss, prevailing in a fourth-set tiebreak.  That would be the last match Sascha would complete in the 2022 season.

In their clay rubber match on Tuesday, Alcaraz is a considerable favorite.  In the absence of Nadal and Djokovic, he is definitively the best clay court player in this event.  And Zverev is not yet back to his level from a year ago when he defeated Carlitos.


Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:

Mayar Sherif vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Sabalenka is now 26-4 this year overall, and 6-1 on clay.  She hasn’t dropped a set to this stage.  Sherif only owned one main draw win at a WTA 1000 event prior to this surprising quarterfinal run, during which she has upset three seeded players (Kalinina, Garcia, Mertens).  This is their first career meeting.

Aslan Karatsev (Q) vs. Daniil Medvedev (2) – Medvedev leads the tour with 33 match wins, and survived a stern test from Alexander Shevchenko on Monday.  Meanwhile this is the farthest Karatsev has ever gone at a Masters 1000 event.  Aslan actually leads their head-to-head 3-1 at all levels, and 1-0 on clay, having defeated Daniil two years ago in Rome in straight sets.

Borna Coric (17) vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29) – Coric upset Hubert Hurkacz in the last round, in only his ninth victory of the season.  Davidovich Fokina upset Holger Rune in an epic encounter that went into the early hours of Monday morning, decided by a third-set tiebreak.  Their only prior encounter has also quite dramatic, with Alejandro prevailing 7-5 in the third last March at Indian Wells.

Taylor Fritz (8) vs. Zhizhen Zhang – Fritz in 27-8 on the year, and now 7-2 on clay.  Zhizhen is the first Chinese man to reach the round of 16 at a Masters 1000 event, and outlasted both Denis Shapovalov and Cam Norrie in third-set tiebreaks. 

Maria Sakkari (9) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu (31) – Sakkari eliminated Paula Badosa in straight sets on Monday.  Begu is yet to drop a set, and has now advanced to the quarterfinals of Madrid for the third time.  Maria is 2-1 against Irina, with all three matches taking place on hard courts.

Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) – Tsitsipas has already withstood two three-setters, against Dominic Thiem and Sebastian Baez.  Zapata Miralles had never won a main draw match at a Masters tournament prior to this fortnight in his home country. 


Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Daniil Medvedev Targets French Open Breakthrough After Rome Disappointment

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Credit Francesca Micheli/Ubitennis

Daniil Medvedev believes there will be more title contenders at the French Open than previous editions with the Russian hoping to be one of them. 

The world No.4 heads into the Grand Slam after what has been a mixed clay swing. Medvedev suffered a third round defeat in Monte Carlo before bouncing back in Madrid where he reached the quarter-finals before retiring from his match with a minor injury. Meanwhile, at this week’s Italian Open, his title defence came to an end in the fourth round on Tuesday when he fell 6-1, 6-4, to Tommy Paul. 

“Mentally I had to be much better,” Medvedev said of his latest performance.
“I started to calm myself down and focus on the match only at the end of the match, and it was too late. I had to do better. I was expecting myself to play better.’
“It’s disappointing, but that’s how sport is. You lose and you go for the next tournament, which is a pretty important one.” He added. 

28-year-old Medvedev recently stated that he is seeing improvements in his game when it comes to playing on the clay. A surface which he has struggled on during stages of his career. Out of the 38 ATP Finals he has contested, only two of those were on the clay. Barcelona in 2019 when he finished runner-up and Rome last year which he won. 

As for the French Open, he has lost in the first round on five out of seven appearances. But did reach the quarter-finals in 2021 and the last 16 the following year. So could 2024 be his year?

“Now it’s maybe a little bit more open than it was ever before,” he said of this year’s event. 
“Good for me, too, because usually in Roland Garros I don’t play that well. The more open it is, the better it is for me.”

All of the top three players on the men’s tour are currently experiencing problems. Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Italian Open and recently underwent a medical assessment after getting hit in the head by a bottle in a freak accident. Jannik Sinner is reportedly on the verge of withdrawing from the French Open due to a hip issue and Carlos Alcaraz has been hindered by a forearm injury in recent weeks. 

“I’m feeling much better on clay,” Medvedev commented. “What is tough for me on clay sometimes is getting used to conditions. Every court – in every tournament in the world – is a bit different.
“On hard courts it’s the same: every court is different. On hard courts I have this ability to kind of quite fast get used to it. On clay, I need more time.”

Medvedev aims to become only the second Russian man in history to win the French Open after Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996. The tournament will begin a week on Sunday. 

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Stefanos Tsitsipas Says Expanded Masters Events ‘Playing A Massive Role’ In Player Injuries

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Credit Francesca Micheli/Ubitennis

Stefanos Tsitsipas has slammed the decision to extend the length of Masters 1000 tournaments to two weeks by warning that more injuries could occur in the future as a result. 

This week’s Rome Masters is taking place without two out of the world’s top three players. Jannik Sinner pulled out of his home event due to a hip injury and Carlos Alcaraz has been troubled by a forearm issue in recent weeks. Other players missing from the draw include Tomas Machac (Illness), Ugo Humbert (Left Knee) and Stan Wawrinka (Right Wrist). 

The tournament is taking place immediately after the Madrid Open which is also a Masters event that has been expanded to a two-week format in recent years. Supporters of the move argue that a bigger draw provides lower-ranked players with more opportunities to play in these events whilst others will have a day off between matches. 

However, world No.8 Tsitsipas isn’t completely happy with the schedule which he openly criticised on Monday following his 6-2, 7-6(1), win over Cameron Norrie. The Greek has won 12 out of 14 matches played on clay so far this season. 

“It’s a type of thing that hurt the sport a little bit, to have these types of things happen to the highest of the players,” Tsitsipas commented on his rival’s injuries.
“Without them, the show is not kind of the same. You have obviously the guys behind them (in the rankings). These kinds of tournaments deserve names like this to be playing and have the opportunity to play in front of these big stadiums and crowds.
“I’ve spoken about the fact that the schedule has a big toll on our bodies. It starts from the mental side, and it follows to the physical side. The extension of the days in the Masters 1000s I think plays a massive role and contributes a lot to the fact that these players are getting injured.”

The ATP’s extended format is set to be applied to seven out of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments from 2025. The only two yet to make or plan for such changes are Monte Carlo and Paris. However, Tsitsipas has called for changes to be made to the schedule.

“It was perhaps already a lot the way it was before with the seven-day events. Adding more days to that, well, you got to be some type of superhero to be consistent back-to-back 10 days in each event getting to the very end of it.” He commented.
“It’s not a very easy thing to do. Some people need to try it first to get an understanding and how it is to pull that off. Then they should make decisions based on that.
“I think this is not going to be the first time we see these types of things (player injuries). If these types of things continue with the same schedule not being adjusted or customized to the needs of the players, we might see more of these things occur in the future.”

It is not the first time a player has raised concerns about the extended format. Alexander Zverev previously said that the schedule is a disadvantage for the top players. Meanwhile, on the women’s Tour Caroline Garcia has criticised the move to expand WTA 1000 tournaments whilst Maria Sakkari said achieving the Madrid-Rome double has become harder to do

On the other hand, Daniil Medvedev has spoken in favour of the new format and describes injuries on the Tour as ‘part of the sport.’ The former US Open believes the issue is related to the quick surface changes players face and not the duration of tournaments. 

Tsitsipas will play Alex de Minaur in the fourth round of the Italian Open on Tuesday. 

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Novak Djokovic To Undergo Medical Check After Rome Thrashing, Bottle Incident

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Novak Djokovic – ATP Roma 2024 (foto: Francesca Micheli/Ubitennis)

Novak Djokovic has indicated that he will speak to doctors following his lacklustre performance at the Italian Open where he crashed out in straight sets. 

The five-time champion was far from his best against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo as he struggled to generate any rhythm in his tennis or a single break point opportunity. Djokovic’s below-par performance caught many off guard, including the tennis player himself who admitted afterwards that he was ‘completely off’ his game. 

Trying to find the reason behind his latest performance, the world No.1 isn’t ruling out the possibility that it might be linked to an incident that took place at the tournament two days ago. Following his win over France’s Corentin Moutet, Djokovic suffered a blow to his head after a fan accidentally dropped a metal bottle from the stands. Immediately afterwards, he experienced nausea, dizziness and bleeding for up to an hour but was checked by medical officials.

“I don’t know, to be honest. I have to check that.” Djokovic replied when asked if the incident affected his form on Sunday.
“Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same.
“Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago.
“It could be. I don’t know. I have to do medical checkups and see what’s going on. “

The tennis star said he managed to sleep fine after his head blow but did experience headaches. He looked to be in good spirits the day after it happened and even turned up to practice in Rome wearing a safety helmet.

Djokovic’s concerns come two weeks before the start of the French Open where he is seeking a record 25th Major title. He will undoubtedly be one of the contenders for glory but admits there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the coming days. 

“Everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win it,” he said.
“The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, and no balance whatsoever on any shot.
“It’s a bit concerning.”

The French Open will begin on Sunday 26th May. 

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