Rafa Jódar to face Sinner

Rafael Jódar will play world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the Madrid Open quarterfinals after beating Vit Kopriva 7-5, 6-0 on Tuesday. (atptour.com) The match is on Wednesday, April 29, not before 16:00 local time on Manolo Santana Stadium at La Caja Mágica. The ATP Tour and the tournament’s official order of play both list Sinner-Jódar in that slot. (atptour.com) (mutuamadridopen.com) Jódar is 19 and from Madrid, and Tuesday’s win sent him into his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal. ATP Tour said he is the sixth teenager to reach a Masters 1000 last eight this decade. (atptour.com) He beat Kopriva in 80 minutes, saved both break points he faced, and closed the second set 6-0 after a tight first set. ATP Tour said he is also the fourth wild card to reach the Madrid quarterfinals. (atptour.com) The run did not start with an easy draw. ATP Tour said Jódar earned his first Top 10 win against Alex de Minaur, then beat João Fonseca and Jesper de Jong before taking out Kopriva. (atptour.com) Sinner reached the quarterfinals earlier Tuesday by beating Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 in 87 minutes. Olympics.com said the win extended Sinner’s Masters 1000 winning streak to 25 matches. (olympics.com) Madrid is one of the few big clay events where Sinner has not gone deeper than the quarterfinals. Olympics.com said he is chasing a fifth straight Masters 1000 title after wins in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. (olympics.com) Sinner had already been talking about Jódar before the matchup became official. On Sunday, he called the Spaniard “a very, very talented player” and said he liked Jódar’s calm mentality. (atptour.com) ATP Tour also said Sinner watched Jódar’s win over de Minaur from the stands on Friday. By Tuesday night, that curiosity had turned into a quarterfinal against a hometown player on the main court in Madrid. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) For Jódar, the next step is simple and much bigger: a first career meeting with the top seed, at home, with a semifinal place on the line. (atptour.com)