Francisco Cerundolo stunned two-time champion Alexander Zverev with a 7-5, 6-3 victory at the Madrid Open, ending the German’s seven-match winning streak that had stretched back to his title run in Munich.
In a rematch of their fourth-round encounter from one year ago, Cerundolo, who also beat Zverev this season in Buenos Aires, saved the only break point he faced, according to ATP Stats.
“I’m super happy because I know he loves playing here. He told me last year when I beat him. He’s an incredible player. I have a great relationship with him, so I’m super happy to get another win and to be in the quarter-finals again,” Cerundolo said.
With the win, Cerundolo joined Arthur Fils as the only players to reach three ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals this season. He also leads the ATP Tour with seven quarter-finals and 15 clay-court wins in the 2025 season, ATP reports.
While Cerundolo is through to his seventh career Masters 1000 quarter-final, Zverev was denied his 100th quarter-final appearance at that prestigious level.
Meanwhile, ninth seed Daniil Medvedev avoided an upset of his own to match his career-best result in Madrid. The 29-year-old advanced to the last eight by rallying past 31st-seeded American Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, closing the one-hour, 49-minute encounter on his fifth match point.
“I feel like for both of us, because we both made a lot of unforced errors. I got pretty angry at the end of the first set because I couldn’t control what I was doing on the court, but I felt like I’m not far from winning games and then winning the match, so I knew that I just had to stay tougher, play just a tiny bit better, and I managed to do it,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev will next face third seed Casper Ruud. Should Medvedev win, he will become the fifth man to complete the set of semi-finals at all active ATP Masters 1000 events, alongside Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray.
Ruud defeated Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final since Monte-Carlo last year and 13th overall.
–IANS
