Madrid Open - 05/01

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Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000 events and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Friday, May 1st, in Madrid it's 08:30 and it's 17 degrees. Alright, let's get started.

On today's menu

• 🇩🇪 Zverev dispatches Cobolli 6-1 6-4 and gets his Munich revenge
• 🇧🇪 Blockx eliminates Ruud and stops the defending champion's title defense
• 🇷🇺 Andreeva saves three set points and reaches the final against Baptiste
• 🇺🇦 Kostyuk drops a set but closes out Potapova: first Masters 1000 final
• 🇮🇹 Today Sinner faces Fils, in the evening Zverev-Blockx for the other final

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇩🇪 Zverev Gets His Revenge On Cobolli

Alexander Zverev defeated Flavio Cobolli 6-1 6-4 on the Manolo Santana, twelve aces in total, 82% of points won on first serve and just seven points lost on the thirty-nine played with first serves. The first set lasted less than half an hour, the second only sparked to life in the fifth game, where the Italian saved three consecutive break points before dropping serve in the ninth. It's Zverev's fourth semifinal in Madrid, and with this win he becomes the fourth player to reach the semifinal in all of the season's first four Masters 1000s since the format's inception, joining Federer, Nadal and Sinner.

Twelve days after Munich, where Cobolli had played a final that mattered for his home crowd, Zverev stepped on court with a version of his serve he hadn't shown Flavio in Bavaria, and from there on there was no room to find the same match again. For Cobolli it's still his first quarterfinal at a Masters 1000, with Medvedev beaten the round before, in a season on which Rome will now build the next layer of expectation. The feeling is that some lessons are useful mostly to understand where the margins really weigh, and in Madrid the German took them all.

🇧🇪 Blockx Stops Ruud's Title Defense

Alexander Blockx defeated Casper Ruud 6-4 6-4, knocking out the defending champion and reaching the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career. The twenty-one-year-old Belgian, world number sixty-nine, hadn't won an ATP match on clay until the third round of Monte-Carlo three weeks ago: in Madrid he has eliminated Auger-Aliassime, Cerundolo and now the defending champion, converting three of seven break points and winning 85% of points on first serve. For Ruud, the loss also means falling out of the top 20 for the first time since May 2021.

What stands out, watching Blockx these past two weeks, is how quickly he's gotten used to stages that until Monte-Carlo seemed out of scale: at the end of the match he said he'd never even dreamed of a semifinal, and you can still see it when he glances around between points. For Ruud it's the conclusion of a week that began with three hours against Tsitsipas, and where coming back on court twenty-four hours later was a real risk. Today the Belgian faces Zverev, in a semifinal nobody had on the bracket at the start of the week.

🇷🇺 Andreeva In The Final After Saving Three Set Points

Mirra Andreeva defeated Hailey Baptiste 6-4 7-6(8) in one hour and thirty-nine, saving three set points in the second-set tiebreak before closing out on her third match point. The nineteen-year-old Russian, who had celebrated her birthday the day before, in the first set landed 77% of her first serves and won all seventeen points played behind first serve: she is the first teenager to reach three WTA 1000 finals since 2009, and her twelfth win of 2026 on clay is now the highest tally on tour.

More than the score, what stays from this match is the stubbornness with which Andreeva held her level after losing the lead in the tiebreak, in a situation where matches usually slip away in a few minutes. For Baptiste it's the end of a week that in Madrid had her past Paolini and Sabalenka before facing the only top 10 left in the draw, and the regret over the three squandered set points will weigh on her, but the overall feeling is of a player who from now on will enter draws with a different label.

🇺🇦 Kostyuk Wins The Battle Of Storylines

Marta Kostyuk defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-2 1-6 6-1 in one hour and thirty-six, reaching the first WTA 1000 final of her career and pushing her clay-court winning streak in 2026 to ten. The first set was one-sided, the second flipped within minutes as the Russian raised the level on her first serve, but in the third the Ukrainian put her baseline back in order and didn't allow another extended rally. It's also her third WTA final of the season.

For Potapova the week ends with a record that won't be matched anytime soon, the first lucky loser in history to reach the semifinal of a 1000, and a run that from outside the draw went through Ostapenko, Rybakina and Pliskova. For Kostyuk tomorrow's final against Andreeva is the heaviest test of a season that has already said plenty on clay, and matches you win after losing a set 1-6 at that pace are often the ones that change something in the tour's reference points.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:

• Sinner vs Fils (ATP) - On the Manolo Santana, not before 16:00. First Masters 1000 semifinal on clay for Fils, after the one in Miami last month, and he arrived in Madrid on the back of Barcelona and nine straight wins on clay. Sinner is on twenty-one consecutive wins, and after dropping a set to Bonzi in the second round he hasn't conceded any more: at this point in the calendar it's the most stable stat of 2026.
• Zverev vs Blockx (ATP) - Evening session, on the Manolo. The German chasing his first Madrid final since 2022, against the twenty-one-year-old Belgian who hadn't won a match on clay until Monte-Carlo. On paper the gap is clear, but with these things you usually only find something out once the match has started.

Read more

• ATP Madrid 2026, Zverev knocks out Cobolli in two sets and reaches the semifinal
• Flavio Cobolli runs into Zverev's solidity and bows out of Madrid in the quarters
• WTA Madrid, semifinals: Baptiste for Andreeva and Kostyuk against lucky loser Potapova
• Andreeva fends off Baptiste challenge to reach Madrid final
• Alexander Blockx ends Casper Ruud's title defence, reaches Madrid semi-finals
• Schedule and Where to Watch Sinner's Match in the Madrid Open 2026 Semifinals against Fils

Have a great breakfast and a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast