![\"Casper](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ruud-blockx-madrid-2026-qf-thursday.jpg\")
<\/p>\n Match Reaction
\n Ruud left searching for answers vs. Blockx: ‘I found it depressing’<\/p>\n
Norwegian set to drop out of the Top 20 for the first time since May 2021<\/p>\n
April 30, 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Casper Ruud falls to Alexander Blockx in straight sets in Madrid on Thursday.
\n By Jerome Coombe<\/p>\n
Casper Ruud<\/a> saw his title defence at the Mutua Madrid Open<\/a> end in the quarter-finals on Thursday, later admitting he struggled at times to find answers against a rapidly emerging talent.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old matched Alexander Blockx<\/a> with 19 winners, but six additional unforced errors (23-17) proved costly in a tightly contested match at Manolo Santana Stadium. While the defeat will be difficult to process \u2014 with Ruud set to fall out of the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since May 2021 \u2014 he was generous in his assessment of the 21-year-old Blockx.<\/p>\n \u201cI found it depressing this game, because he didn’t really have any weaknesses,\u201d Ruud said of World No. 69 Block after the pair\u2019s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. \u201cI tried my best to do some analysis [of him]. Not like live in the moment when he was playing, but I rewatched a lot of his matches here, and a lot of highlights to see his highest level. We do everything we can. Ultimately, when you’re out there, you can scout all you want, but you have to hit the shots that you want to hit.<\/p>\n \u201cToday I think I was a little bit too loose with my forehand. I went for some bigger shots and winners that sailed a bit long or sailed a bit wide. I think ultimately that gave him, maybe not the win, but I didn’t get the best start. He got an early break, probably building confidence in his game.\u201d<\/p>\n Blockx, a competitor at the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals, produced a series of standout moments, including a delicate drop shot to secure a first-set break and a fierce backhand winner from deep in the second. That shot in particular, which came after Ruud pushed him back with a heavy smash, reflected the \u201cconfidence\u201d the Norwegian pointed to.<\/p>\n You May Also Like: Blockx busts Ruud\u2019s title defence, reaches Madrid semi-finals<\/a><\/p>\n Despite his experience on Tour, it\u2019s rare for Ruud to encounter a new opponent this late in a Masters 1000 event. Blockx combined a strong serve with consistent baseline play to keep the Norwegian under pressure, ultimately sealing a 6-4, 6-4 victory to reach his first semi-final at this level.<\/p>\n \u201cI was impressed because I didn’t really find any big weakness or hole in his game,\u201d Ruud added. \u201cAnd when you don’t do that, it’s easier to kind of over hit and feel like you don’t get anything out of your own shots. So credit to him for being, obviously, a very good server, yes, but also very solid and playing well from the baseline.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruud arrived in Madrid following an unusual exit in Monte-Carlo, where he retired with a calf injury against Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/a> in the last 16. Any lingering concerns quickly faded, however, when he put together a strong run that included saving two match points to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> in the fourth round.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m happy with some good matches here in Madrid. I was coming here the first couple days not really knowing if my calf would hold up, because I had some issues with it in Monte Carlo,\u201d Ruud explained. \u201cI was just happy to be able to compete. I got a great start to the tournament with some good matches and good wins.<\/p>\n \u201cThe quarter-final is not a bad result. You hope to do one more and one more. All in all, not horrible, and I’ll continue to build, and I have a good couple of weeks coming up in Rome and of course Paris coming later.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruud, currently No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, will next head to the Masters 1000 event in Rome, where he has 200 quarter-final points to defend, before turning his focus to Roland Garros<\/a>. In Paris, he is defending just 50 points after a second-round exit last year, when he struggled in a loss to Nuno Borges<\/a> before subsequently missing six weeks through injury. The Norwegian is a two-time finalist at the clay-court major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Match Reaction Ruud left searching for answers vs. Blockx: ‘I found it depressing’ Norwegian set to drop out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-638870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\u201cATP](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/atp-fantasy-article-banner.jpg\")
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