Thursday 1 May was circled in red on the Mutua Madrid Open calendar. It is a bank holiday in Spain, some classy tennis is in store and the sky is starting to clear after Wednesday’s rain. The Caja Magica was ready to entertain and the first match of the day did not disappoint.
Norway’s Casper Ruud took down Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals in one hour and forty minutes in a Caja Magica whose stands were packed with tennis lovers. After cruising his way to the first set, Ruud was trailing throughout the second. He bade his time before pouncing when the scoreboard read 5-5, breaking his opponent before serving out the match with aplomb.
“I arrived here after a tough defeat in Barcelona and I decided I have to improve mentally here in Madrid. I wanted to give my best in Madrid and now I want to keep going”, Ruud said on court after his match. “In recent weeks, I’d lost my tennis a bit, so it’s amazing to have it back again”, added the Norwegian, who will square off on Friday with the victor of the clash between the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo and Jakub Mensik.
Ruud and Medvedev had previously crossed paths three times, with the latter taking the spoils on every occasion. None of those battles were on clay, Casper’s favourite surface. “He beat me on outdoor hard, on outdoor grass and indoor hard. I didn’t want it to be 4-0. At least now it’s 3-1”, he concluded.
His victory on Thursday means Ruud has reached his 40th semifinal on the ATP Tour, while also becoming the third active player with the most semi-finals on clay, behind Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (50) and the Italian Fabio Fognini (30). He has also now equalled his best finish at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he bowed out just before the final in 2021.
