Dino Prizmic has provided the first big upset of the Mutua Madrid Open. On Friday, the Croat, who came through qualifying, saw off Ben Shelton, the tournament\u2019s fourth seed and the world No. 6 in a thrilling tie that was decided on the finer details: 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), after three hours of tennis, nerves, courage, and tireless running.<\/p>\n
Shelton arrived in Madrid as one of the marquee names in the draw. He had just lifted the trophy in Munich, his confidence sky-high, and it seemed the conditions in the Caja Magica would suit his game perfectly; the altitude, fast balls, and time to crank up his serve and forehand. On paper, it was a golden opportunity to strengthen his case for a maiden Masters 1000 title on clay. But Madrid doesn\u2019t care for what\u2019s written on paper.<\/p>\n
Prizmic went off script as soon as the first ball was hit in anger. The 20-year-old Croat did not play like an underdog, rather he looked to contest every inch of the court. Absorbing Shelton\u2019s thunderous shots, he embraced the physical exchanges, and found ways to unsettle the American with a blend of intensity, movement, and a competitive maturity rarely seen in someone so new to these big stages.<\/p>\n
The first set was his, 6-4, a statement of intent. Shelton responded in the second, kept up the pace, and forced a tiebreak to level the match. At that point, it looked as though the favourite had found his opening, but Prizmic refused to give the match up, mentally and physically. He started afresh.<\/p>\n
Set three was a test of endurance. It was won not only with tennis but with character. The Croat, who had already survived two qualifying rounds and beaten Matteo Berrettini in the first round, found the energy to stay in the battle and play the decisive points with conviction.<\/p>\n
The reward is immense; his first career victory against a Top 10 player, his first third-round appearance in a Masters 1000, and a week that confirms Prizmic is now a force to be reckoned with. Before Madrid, he had barely won a main draw match at tournaments of this calibre. Now, in the Caja Magica, he\u2019s added two more, plus two victories from qualifying. It\u2019s a journey built from the ground up, and it is suddenly propelling him into a new dimension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dino Prizmic has provided the first big upset of the Mutua Madrid Open. On Friday, the Croat, who came through qualifying, saw off Ben Shelton, the tournament\u2019s fourth seed and the world No. 6 in a thrilling tie that was decided on the finer details: 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), after three hours of tennis, nerves, courage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":107641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[838,837],"tags":[1170],"class_list":["post-107640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-tenis-masculino-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","tag-dino-prizmic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107644,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107640\/revisions\/107644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}