Spain’s King Felipe, like the thousands of other spectators in the Estadio Manolo Santana, applauded for several minutes. What happened yesterday in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters tournament in Madrid can safely be described as a small changing of the guard. The 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated his compatriot and tennis superstar Rafael Nadal 6: 2, 1: 6 and 6: 3.
It was the teenager’s first success over his big idol in the third duel. “I will probably never forget this day. I owe so much to Rafa. Now, to win against him on clay, I had to let that sink in first,” said Alcaraz, who has already won three tournaments this year with Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Barcelona and moved into the top ten in the world rankings.
In the semi-finals, Novak Djokovic is now waiting for the next difficult draw. The world number one showed a sovereign performance in the 6: 3, 6: 4 against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz.
At next week’s ATP 250 tournament in Geneva, where Dominic Thiem wants to make another attempt at his first win since his comeback, another prominent name will be the world number two, Daniil Medvedev. The Russian is returning to the tour after groin surgery in early April to gain match practice for the French Open.
Two ÖTV players in the semifinals
You shouldn’t praise the day before the evening, but the ATP Challenger in Mauthausen can already be booked as a success before today’s semifinals (from 12 p.m.) and the final on Sunday (from 10 a.m.). On the one hand for the organizers, who received a lot of praise from the players for their efforts. And on the other hand, because the local protagonists also take the opportunity to collect valuable points without having to travel too hard. For example Dennis Novak, who just barely got the upper hand in the Austrian duel against Lucas Miedler 6: 7 (6), 6: 1, 7: 6 (5) yesterday and now in the semifinals the Czech Jiri Lehecka (world number 88) for opponent has.
Jurij Rodionov also left an extremely strong impression. He benefited from the resignation of his opponent Attila Balazs (Ung) when the score was 6:4 and 3:0. Contrary to what was actually expected, it’s not about reaching the final against the number one of the tournament, John Millman. The Australian lost to Hungary’s Mate Valkusz 4-6, 6-1, 3-6.
Barbara Haas lost in the quarterfinals of the W25 tournament in Split against Katharina Hobgarski (D) 6:1, 3:6, 3:6. This is what Melanie Klaffner stands for at the W15 event in Cairo after a 7:6 (4), 7:5 over Oceane Babel (Fra) in the semifinals. (free)
Source: Nachrichten