Jannik Sinner, vs. Rafael Jodar the detail fans feared
Jannik Sinner and Rafael Jodar, a new talent in Spanish tennis, crossed paths in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters 1000, and the South Tyrolean managed to prevail in two sets over the Iberian tennis sensation. The match, which lasted an hour and 56 minutes and ended with some headaches for the world No. 1, who managed to prevail in the second set in a perfect tie-brek after nullifying a beauty of five break points, however, saw the materialization of a situation that Spanish fans had already had in their sights even before the match began.
With the real risk of rain on Manolo Santana Stadium, in fact, there had been talk of the possibility of the organizers closing the facility with a roof. Spanish fans had criticized this eventuality, pointing out that Sinner is much more comfortable when playing indoors than outdoors (91 wins out of 112 total are mentioned). Well: although the rain did not come in the end, the Caja Magica was equally closed. And in the end, this time too, it was the South Tyrolean champion who won.
The first set had told a story already seen in this Madrid tournament: Sinner had replicated almost verbatim the script of the match against Cameron Norrie, closing the opening partial 6-2 in that case as well, with the backhand being the master and the center of the court as headquarters. The turning point had come in the fifth game, with a high-precision longline backhand to unlock the break, followed by a second break to nil that had sent Jodar to 2-5 with no chance for a repeat.
Much more tightly contested was the second set, which lasted nearly an hour and a quarter. Jodar sold his skin dearly, in turn annulling three break points to the ATP No. 1 ranking player and taking the 5-4 point that forced the partial set into a tie-break. It was only in the final that the Spaniard broke down: Sinner placed eleven consecutive points between the twelfth game and the tie-break, closing on 7-6(0) without conceding a single point to his opponent in the final act.
For Jodar, however, it was a head-on exit at the end of an extraordinary tournament. The Madrid native, born and raised in the Spanish capital, had made it to the quarters at his third career Masters 1000, eliminating in order Jesper de Jong, top 10 Alex de Minaur, Brazilian Joao Fonseca, and finally Czech Vit Kopriva with a clear 7-5, 6-0. It was a path that made them forget, at least temporarily, the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, who was stuck in the pits with a wrist problem. It is no coincidence that Boris Becker had sentenced on the eve of the match, “He reminds me of Sinner, he is a very complete player.”
Sinner himself had spoken words of high esteem for his opponent in the days leading up to the match, having studied his game carefully: “In the hotel I had managed to review his entire match with Fonseca: he plays at a really high level. He is a player of great quality and I am convinced that we will cross paths often in the future.” The South Tyrolean had then added how the quarterfinal could have a value beyond the simple result: “Facing him already here will be useful, also to understand the sensations in view of important appointments such as Rome and Roland Garros.”
With today’s victory, Sinner hits the Madrid Masters 1000 semifinals for the first time in his career and continues his hunt for a historic feat: the fifth consecutive Masters 1000, a goal that no player has ever managed to achieve in the past. In the semifinals the Italian will find the winner between Arthur Fils and Jiri Lehecka, the Czech who has already proved his worth in this tournament by eliminating Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16 with a clear double 6-3.
