Madrid Masters 1000: Alcaraz crushes Zverev and Cachín looks for a pass for the quarterfinals against Struff

On a day that started with a couple of surprises in the Masters of Madrid 1000, Pedro Cachin He will be looking to celebrate another unprecedented victory in his career, against a rival who entered the box through the window, but that could complicate things. The Cordovan, 67th ranked in the world, will meet again in the round of 16, around 2.30 pm in our country, with television ESPN3– with German Jan Lennard Struffentered as a lucky loser after losing in the last qualifying round, but is better positioned than the Argentinian in the standings.

It is that the German, 65th in the ATP, was in 103rd when he closed the entry list for the Spanish competition, at the end of March, for which he did not get a place in the main draw.

Early on the Brick Dust Tour was one of the big surprises Montecarlowhere he started in the standings, he gave the big shot against Casper Ruudfour in the world, in the round of 16 and said goodbye in the quarter-finals against Andrei Rublev, then sample. That great performance allowed him to move up to 64th place. Although the following week he lost in his debut at Monk before the Swiss alexander ritschard209th in the standings.

With an erratic present, Struff could make things difficult for Cachín on the pitch, if it’s on a good day, as happened on the Monegasque brick dust. Even if the 28-year-old from Cordoba arrives on the rise and with great confidence.

The Bell Ville native picked up the best win of his career on Monday by defeating the American Frances Tiafoe11th in the world, 6-1 and 7-6 (7-2) to enter the round of 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time.

“I played very well, sometimes I was lucky. For me it’s a dream come true, to be one of the best in a tournament of this size. Madrid is special, I’ve always done well here,” said Cachín, who arrived to the tournament after making the final in a Challenger in the Spanish capital and losing in the second round of Barcelona in view of Stephen Tsitsipasplaying very well.

It will be the first duel between Cachín and Struff. The man from Córdoba, the only albiceleste representative who is still running in the magic boxhe made his debut with a victory against the young Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh, 243rd and host of the organization; then he went down to Francis Cerundolo, 24th seed; and entered the second round beating Tiafoe.

The 33-year-old German defeated the Italian in the first round Lorenzo Soneo, 47°; in the second, the talented American Ben Shelton, 20 years old and 38th in the standings; and in the third in Serbian Dusan Lajovic40th.

Alcaraz, intractable; Medvedev and Rublev eliminated

All it takes is an hour and 22 minutes Carlos Alcaraz reach the quarterfinals in Madrid and take another step towards defending the title won last year. The Spaniard, number two in the world and a great favourite, gave the German no escape Alexander Zverev13, to whom won 6-1 and 6-2.

Intractable with his serve – he won 21 of the 24 points played with the first and 12 out of 17 with the second, and gave no chance to break – and also very comfortable with his return, the Murciano was the clear ruler of the match .

He connected 14 winners (against 8 for his rival) and committed only four unforced errors (half those of the German); and with four breaks (two per set), achieved an indisputable victory, which only reaffirms his status as a great candidate to lift the trophy.

Alcaraz will now go for the pass to the semifinal against Karen Khachanova, responsible for one of the surprises of the day. The Russian, 12th in the world, beat his compatriot 7-6 (10-8) and 6-4 Andrei Rublevseeded fifth and recently captured Montecarlo his first Masters 1000.

Khachanov added his first win against a top 10 player since 2019 and will now look to strike a blow against Alcaraz, whom he could never defeat. The Murciano took the two matches played previously, in the round of 16 Roland Garros and the Hamburg district, both last year.

The most sensational result of the day came in another Russian duel, in which Daniel Medvedevsecond favourite, fell to Aslan Karatsev121st and coming from qualifying, for 7-6 (7-1) and 6-4 in one hour and 36 minutes of play.

It was a match in which the world number three once again had controversial attitudes. Medvedev – who has no problem saying he doesn’t like brick dust – complained to the tournament supervisor that he had to play on the court Arantxa Sanchez Vicariothe second largest in the complex and slightly smaller than the Manolo Santana.

“Why do I have this disadvantage when I’m second favourite? I don’t understand it”Medvedev said.

His dissatisfaction was due to the fact that that stage has less space between the backline and the wall than the main stadium, which makes it difficult, as he usually plays far back on this type of surface.

Daniil also had, as usual, his worries with the public. He threatened to throw a racket into the stands and hit one of the billboards with a ball. And when the spectators booed him, he silenced them, putting his index finger to his lips.

Karatsev awaits the winner of the duel between the Americans in the quarterfinals Taylor Fritzeighth favourite, and the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang.