Madrid (Spain) – Two-time champion in 2018 and 2021, German Alexander Zverev said goodbye to the Masters 1000 in Madrid in the round of 16. This Tuesday, the current number 5 in the world was eliminated by Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, who needed 1h29 to triumph in straight sets, with partials of 6/3 and 6/4.
With the victory, Cerúndolo reaches the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 for the fourth time in his career, equaling the campaigns of Miami and Rome last year. He was also a semifinalist in Miami the previous year. In Madrid, this is only the second participation of the Argentine player, who made his debut in 2023.
For this reason, he is adding important points and gaining a position in the ranking, moving from the current 22nd place to 21st, two below his personal best, achieved ten months ago. If he manages to advance one more round he could reach the best mark of his career, reaching 17th place.
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On the other hand, Zverev misses the chance to make the quarterfinals for the sixth time in seven appearances on Spanish clay. In addition to the two titles mentioned, he was also a finalist in 2022 and didn’t make it past the round of 16 last year, falling to Carlos Alcaraz on both occasions. Interestingly, the young Spaniard was champion in both editions.
In repeating last year’s campaign, Sascha is only collecting ten points due to changes made by the ATP to tour scoring this season. As a result, he will be parked in fifth place, more than 1,700 points behind fourth place, Russian Daniil Medvedev, but with a comfortable margin of 900 points over Casper Ruud, sixth on the list.
Fritz eliminates Hurkacz and will be Cerundolo’s opponent
For the first time in his career, American Taylor Fritz is in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Madrid. With a great performance on serve, winning 88% of the points with the first serve and without giving up a single break point in the entire match, the current number 13 in the world passed the Polish Hurbert Hurkacz with the score of 7/6 (7- 2) and 6/4, in 1h25 of the match, and will be Francisco Cerúndolo’s next rival. The Argentine won the only previous duel, in the third round of Roland Garros last year, with a 3 sets to 1 victory.
In his fourth participation in the tournament, Fritz already surpasses last year’s campaign, when he was eliminated in the round of 16. However, he is still very far from his closest competitors in the rankings and will need to continue advancing in the competition to get closer to returning to the top 10. Hurkacz, who did not make it past the third stage on clay in Madrid in the last two years, will remain firm in the ninth position in the ATP.
