Building on his recent ATP poll ascent, Madrid native Rafael Jodar battled back from one set down to knock out Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday in a 2-hour, 32-minute first-round clash at the Mutua Madrid Open.
The 19-year-old began the year ranked 168th, but has skyrocketed all the way to No. 42 as of Monday. Jodar returned to his hometown after claiming his first singles title April 5 at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakesh, Morocco, then narrowly losing in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semifinals last week.
On Wednesday, Jodar limped out the gates as De Jong broke each one of Jodar’s serves in the first set. From there Jodar hunkered down, saving three of the four break points he faced the rest of the match, and winning 14 of 19 first service points (74 percent) in the decisive final set.
Jodar, who grew up just 12 kilometers from the stadium, joined Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz as the only Spaniards to record a main-draw win in Madrid before turning 20. Jodar will face fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia in the round of 64.
“I try to handle the pressure as I have done since I was little,” Jodar said Monday before the tournament. “I’ve always been a very calm person both on and off the court. I know there’ll be moments when things don’t go as well as they have in recent tournaments. In those moments, you prove whether you’re mentally strong. Those moments will also make me stronger.”
A quartet of Italians lost in straight sets in the opening round — highlighted by former top 10 player Matteo Berrettini falling to Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic 6-3, 6-4. Prizmic will face fourth-seeded Ben Shelton in the next round.
Lorenzo Sonego, a former top 25 player, lost to qualifier Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-3, 7-6 (1), while Mattia Bellucci fell to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-4. Federico Cina lost to qualifier Elmer Moller from Denmark 6-4, 7-6 (4).
French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi took down fellow French qualifier Titouan Droguet by a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 count. Bonzi wasn’t broken once, but Droguet staved off Bonzi’s first eight break points before Bonzi finally cashed in to take a 5-4 lead in the final set. Bonzi’s reward? He’ll take on World No. 1 Italian Jannik Sinner in the next round.
Sinner has won all three times the two have faced off and the Italian will be looking for his fifth straight Masters 1000 title, which he has accomplished while dropping just one set.
In other three-set matches, Croatia’s Marin Cilic defeated Belgian Zizou Bergs 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Tomas Machac of Czechia came back to beat Francisco Comesana of Argentina 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
In two-set territory, Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo took down France’s Valentin Royer 6-2, 6-4 to set up a Round of 64 meeting with 11th-seeded Jiri Lehecka of Czechia. Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4 to advance to face 15th-seeded Tommy Paul.
Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff bested France’s Alexandre Muller 7-6 (3), 6-0, Emilio Nava topped Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-5, Austria’s Sebastian Ofner beat Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0), Vit Kopriva of Czechia took down China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-2, 6-0, Peru’s Ignacio Buse got past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-2 and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz beat qualifier Jaime Faria of Portugal 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
