Madrid (Spain) – Main seed of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Jannik Sinner formalized his withdrawal from the competition this Wednesday. The Italian justified his absence because of pain in his hip, which had already bothered him in the last two games, against Russians Pavel Kotov and Karen Khachanov. The world number 2 is trying to recover in time to play the Masters 1000 in Rome, which starts next Wednesday.
With Sinner’s departure from the competition, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime advances directly to the semifinals. Former number 6 in the rankings and currently 35th at the age of 23, Aliassime hasn’t come this far in a tournament of this size since October 2022, when he reached the semi-finals in Paris. The Canadian also played in a Miami semifinal in 2019.
The Italian already came with doubts about his participation in the quarterfinals in Madrid and mentioned that even entering the court to face Khachanov in the round of 16 had been decided at the last minute. “My physical therapist and I work really hard. I tried to recover, sleep well and we also did some different exercises to try to improve. My main objective is to be 100% physically”, he explained at last Tuesday’s press conference. “I need to think twice [se devo me expor ou não] because now comes Rome, Paris, then Wimbledon and the Olympic Games”.
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Aliassime will play his third Masters 1000 semi-final
Aliassime now waits for the winner of the match between Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 4 in the world, and Czech Jiri Lehecka, 31st in the rankings. The Canadian has never beaten Medvedev in seven clashes between them, most notably the US Open semifinal in 2021. It will be the first time they face each other on clay. The only game against Lehecka was won by the Czech at last year’s Australian Open.
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In pain, Sinner puts participation in the quarterfinals in doubt
