Alexander Blockx knocks out defending champion Casper Ruud to reach Madrid Open semis

MADRID – Belgium’s Alexander Blockx continued his breakthrough run at the Madrid Open on April 30, upsetting Norwegian defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career.

Blockx had never won an ATP Tour-level match on clay before April but he has thrived in Madrid, earlier knocking out third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Blockx wrapped up the victory in 96 minutes to become the fourth-lowest-ranked player to reach the semi-finals in the tournament’s history.

The world No. 69 showed few signs of nerves as he dismantled Ruud with aggressive baseline play and solid serving.

“I’m proud of how I’ve played these past couple of matches. I think the conditions suit me well here,” Blockx, 21, said in his on-court interview.

“I feel like it’s clay, which is slow, so I have time to settle and hit my shots, go for my shots.

“At the same time, it’s quite fast with the altitude and the heat sometimes. I think it’s the perfect combination for me.”

He will next face either two-time former champion Alexander Zverev of Germany or 10th-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli.

On April 29, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner held off 19-year-old wild card Rafael Jodar to win 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) in the quarter-finals. In doing so, he became the sixth player to reach the semi-finals of all nine ATP 1000 Masters tournaments.

He saved five break points in the second set and won 11 points in a row to defeat the Spaniard.

“He pushed me to the limit, he’s an incredible player... It’s been a very high-quality match,” Sinner said.

“I got lucky a bit in the second set but also a little bit of experience. I’m happy about today’s match and obviously very happy to be in the semis here for the first time.”

The 24-year-old produced a disciplined performance in the first set, breaking the home favourite twice to take a 5-2 lead, before sealing the set.

Jodar, who won his first tour title in Morocco in April, threatened to pull 4-2 ahead in the second set, but Sinner saved two break points to stay level at 3-3.

The Italian, chasing his second clay-court title this season after winning the Monte Carlo Masters, then dominated the tiebreak and sealed victory with a forehand that Jodar could not reach.

He will next face Arthur Fils, who beat Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, extending his winning streak to nine matches.

The 21st seed became the first Frenchman to reach the semi-finals in Madrid since 2009, avenging his recent Miami Open loss to Lehecka with a dominant, 74-minute display in which he did not face a single break point.

Like Sinner, Fils remains undefeated on clay this season, building on his triumph at the Barcelona Open earlier in April.

In other news, Briton Jack Draper will not compete at May’s French Open as he continues to recover from a knee injury, the former world No. 4 said on April 29.

The 24-year-old was forced to retire from his first-round match against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in Barcelona.

The world No. 28 had returned to action only in February after six months out with a niggling left arm injury. REUTERS, AFP