Alexander Blockx\u2019s dream run in Spain\u2019s capital continues with the Belgian beating the defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old had not won an ATP Tour match on clay before his third-round run in Monte Carlo three weeks ago. He has also defeated the third seed F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime and Francisco Cer\u00fandolo on his way to the last four.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m just happy with being here,\u201d Blockx said. \u201cEven winning my first match here. I barely escaped in the first round and I was happy about that already. Semi-finals is something I wouldn\u2019t have even dreamed of to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blockx, the world No 69, became the fourth lowest-ranked player to reach the men\u2019s last four in Madrid, according to the ATP. He is the second man born in 2005 or later to reach the semis at a Masters 1000 after Jakub Mensik, who won in Miami in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of how I\u2019ve played these past couple of matches,\u201d Blockx said. \u201cThe conditions suit me well here. I feel like it\u2019s clay which is slow, so I have time to settle and hit my shots, go for my shots. At the same time, it\u2019s quite fast with the altitude and the heat sometimes. It\u2019s the perfect combination for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blockx has four wins and two defeats against top 20 opponents, with all four of his wins coming this month. \u201cI thought from the first game I was hitting my ball quite well, and I made [lots of] returns,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce I got my first game, I was really into the match.\u201d For Ruud, the defeat means the Norwegian will drop out of the top 20 next week for the first time since May 2021.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz was back at the Madrid Open on Thursday \u2013 but only as a spectator to watch his younger brother Jaime in an under-16 tournament. The world No\u00a02 was in the stands as Jaime Alcaraz defeated fellow Spaniard Pol Mas 6-3, 6-3. Other relatives were on hand to watch the tournament debut of the 14-year-old Jaime.<\/p>\n
Carlos Alcaraz watches younger brother Jaime compete in Madrid\u2019s under-16 tournament. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The older Alcaraz brother withdrew from the Madrid Open because of a right wrist injury, which will prevent him from defending his French Open title in three weeks.<\/p>\n
A disciplined Mirra Andreeva saw off a late challenge from Hailey Baptiste to prevail 6-4, 7-6 (8) in a battle of nerves to reach the final of the Madrid Open. Andreeva, who turned 19 on Wednesday, is 12-1 on clay so far this season, with a title run in Linz, a semi-\u200afinal showing in Stuttgart and now a final appearance in Madrid, where she awaits Anastasia Potapova or Marta Kostyuk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so much adrenaline inside, I feel like I\u2019m still nervous,\u201d Andreeva said after her victory. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m just so happy that I won \u2026 I\u2019m very happy with how I served today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirra Andreeva, who turned 19 on Wednesday, is 12-1 on clay this season. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Baptiste had shocked the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals, saving six match points, but the 24-year-old struggled as the ninth seed Andreeva conceded only two points on serve in the first set. The American stood firm until the seventh game, when her forehand landed wide, handing Andreeva a break point. The former French Open semi-finalist sent a perfect backhand down the line to earn the decisive break that sealed the set.<\/p>\n
Baptiste, who made 16 unforced errors in the first set, continued to struggle in the second, handing Andreeva a break for a 3-2 lead. But she fended off a match point in the ninth game before Andreeva, serving for the set, double faulted and botched a smash before Baptiste landed two perfect winners to get her first break of the match, making it 5-5.<\/p>\n
The second set reached a tie-break and a newly confident Baptiste won four straight points before Andreeva fought back with precise backhands near the sidelines and saved three set points.<\/p>\n
Baptiste fired down an ace to save a match point but hit a return long as Andreeva clinched victory, reaching the final of a WTA 1000 tournament for the third time after winning the Dubai Championships and the Indian Wells Open last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Blockx\u2019s dream run in Spain\u2019s capital continues with the Belgian beating the defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-616136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}