Madrid open
Nadal makes winning start as tennis returns in virtual world
With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is...
The world number one joined Rafael Nadal on top of the all-time Masters list when he swept to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final in the Spanish capital.
Novak Djokovic enhanced his credentials as the greatest threat to Rafael Nadal winning a 12th French Open title next month by edging past Dominic Thiem to reach the Madrid Open final.
The 37-year-old Swiss had returned this week to the surface for the first time in three years - his last clay court match was a loss to Thiem in Rome in 2016.
In the semi-final on Saturday, top-seeded Novak Djokovic will face either Roger Federer or 2018 finalist Dominic Thiem who meet later on Friday in their quarter-final.
Naomi Osaka, 21, admitted she over-thought about the need to win the match in order to retain her ranking at the top of the women’s game as she went down 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Rafael Nadal made a dominant start to the Madrid Open with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Canadian teenager Felix Auger Aliassime on Wednesday to reach the last 16 while unseeded Laslo Djere knocked out Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Federer took just 52 minutes to see off Frenchman Gasquet 6-2 6-3 in what was his first match on clay in three years after skipping the 2017 and 2018 seasons on the surface to manage a knee injury.
For the last two years, the 37-year-old has chosen to skip the clay-court season completely to preserve energy for tournaments on his preferred surfaces of grass and hard.
Rafa Nadal’s exit means Roger Federer will reclaim the number one spot when the revised ATP rankings are released on Monday.
World number one Simona Halep’s Madrid Open hat-trick hopes ended as she was overpowered 6-4 6-3 in the quarter-finals by inspired Czech Karolina Pliskova on Thursday.
Kyle Edmund claimed the decisive break in the eighth game of the decider before coolly closing out his service game to love for his 14th match win of the year.
Raonic edged a tight clash against an opponent he had only beaten once before, with Bulgarian Dimitrov struggling to build up momentum ahead of the French Open later this month.
World number two Caroline Wozniacki survived a scare from Ashleigh Barty on Monday, edging the Australian 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last-16 of the Madrid Open.
Later France’s Gael Monfils beat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 3-6 6-3 to set up a second round clash on Wednesday with champion and tournament favourite, Rafael Nadal.
Nadal will play either Austrian Dominic Thiem or Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in Sunday's final, where he will look to add to his recent triumphs.
The Briton played poorly in the first set, losing three service games and looking increasingly frustrated.
The Briton made a slow start against an opponent 103 places below him in the world rankings.
Maria Sharapova regained composure to take the second before blitzing the tired Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the third without dropping a game.