MADRID – Belgian rising star Alexander Blockx brought Casper Ruud’s title defence to a crushing halt on Thursday, dismantling the former world No. 2 6-4, 6-4 to book a Madrid Open semi-final clash with Alexander Zverev. Meanwhile, Mirra Andreeva surged into the women’s final after a gritty victory over Hailey Baptiste.
The 21-year-old Blockx, who broke into the top 100 for the first time last month and now stands at a career-high 69th in the world, has eliminated four consecutive seeded players – including third seed Félix Auger-Aliassime – en route to the last four.
Blockx is through to his first tour-level semi-final and becomes the first Belgian man in tournament history to reach this stage at the Madrid Open. Remarkably, before this month, he had never won a tour-level match on clay. He now boasts a 10-2 record on the surface across qualifying and main draw action.
“To be honest, I don’t know – I’m just happy to be here. Even winning my first match, I barely escaped in the first round,” Blockx said in his on-court interview. “I was already happy with that, but the semi-finals are something I wouldn’t have dreamed of. I’m proud of how I’m playing in the last few matches.”
Blockx struck first, breaking in the third game to take a 3-1 lead. Ruud began to dictate with his forehand, levelling at 4-4, but the Belgian remained unfazed, breaking again to reclaim the advantage and sealing the set on his fourth opportunity after 51 minutes.
‘So much adrenaline’
The 21-year-old made his decisive move in the seventh game of the second set, opening up a 5-3 lead. He squandered two match points on Ruud’s serve before closing out victory on his own delivery after 96 minutes.
Ruud, who committed 17 unforced forehand errors, will drop out of the world’s top 20 for the first time since May 2021 when the updated rankings are released next week.
“I found it depressing, because he didn’t really have any weaknesses,” Ruud said afterwards. The three-time Grand Slam finalist revealed he had been managing a calf issue since Monte Carlo but was pleased with how his leg held up during the fortnight.
Zverev cruises
Two-time Madrid champion Zverev reached his seventh semi-final in eight Masters 1000 tournaments with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli, who had beaten the German en route to the Munich final 12 days ago.
Andreeva edges through
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva continued her remarkable clay-court campaign, overcoming Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) to reach her first Madrid final. The ninth seed is now 12-1 on clay this season, having won in Linz, reached the Stuttgart semi-finals, and now stands on the cusp of a Madrid title.
Andreeva was broken while serving for the match at 5-4, forcing a tiebreak. She saved three set points before wrapping up the win in one hour and 39 minutes.
“Honestly, I feel so much adrenaline. I feel like I’m still nervous. I’m just so happy that I won and that I was able to save all those set points,” said Andreeva, who won 81 per cent of her first-serve points. “The serve helped me a lot. I’m so, so happy – I can’t really find the words to describe what I’m feeling right now.”
Baptiste, 24, enjoyed a stellar run in Madrid with two top-10 victories over Jasmine Paolini and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, a performance that will lift her into the top 30 for the first time next week.
Andreeva, who turned 19 on Wednesday, is the second-youngest finalist in tournament history, behind only Caroline Wozniacki. She is the first teenager to reach three WTA 1000 finals and will target a third trophy at this level on Saturday, having already claimed titles in Dubai and Indian Wells last year.
