Jiri Lehecka broke the hearts of the home sides on Tuesday when he ended Rafael Nadal’s run at the Madrid Open in the Spaniard’s final appearance at the Masters 1000 tournament.
The 30th seed Lehecka defeated Nadal 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the last eight meeting with Daniil Medvedev, denying the five-time champion the chance to become the first man in history to reach the 100 Masters 1000 quarter-finals achieved. .
This was Nadal’s first defeat on clay against a player ranked outside the top 20 since 2016 and it marked the end of his legendary career in Madrid, where he has the most wins (59) and titles (five) in tournament history to stand.
“I am happy. It was a very special week for me, very positive and very emotional. I got the chance to play here one more time on this court,” Nadal said on court.
Nadal has not yet decided exactly when he will hang up his racket this season, but the 22-time Grand Slam winner’s retirement is fast approaching. Numerous physical problems have hampered him over the past two years and he will decide later this month whether to compete at Roland Garros.
Lehecka and Nadal were neck-and-neck through the first ten games of the match on Tuesday before the 22-year-old Czech made his move by breaking love and then holding love to take the opening set in just under an hour to fetch.
Nadal dropped serve at the start of the second and never recovered as the tournament said goodbye to its greatest champion.
After the match, a special ceremony was held at the Manolo Santana Stadium, with banners hanging above the stands with the words “Gracias Rafa” marking the years in which he won the Madrid tournament.
“This was a joke, because next year I will be back,” Nadal joked as his family watched from the stands. “All I can say is thank everyone who has helped me in my career. It is not done yet.
‘It was a gift you gave me here. The emotion I get from this experience in Madrid, from the Spanish audience… I was lucky as a child to be able to do the work I love. I feel super lucky to have lived the life I have lived. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Lehecka said, through the second Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career, it felt “bittersweet” to beat Nadal in his last ever match in Madrid.
“It’s great for me, to share the court with such a legendary player is a dream come true,” said Lehecka.
“I always believed and always wanted this to happen.
“All the best to Rafa, it’s a bit bittersweet to get such a great win in front of all these people and everyone is cheering for him. The energy here has been great and I’m glad I got through it.”
Earlier in the day, second seed Carlos Alcaraz extended his Madrid Open winning streak to a record 14 with a hard-fought victory over familiar foe Jan-Lennard Struff to advance to the quarter-finals.
In a rematch of last year’s final at the Caja Magica, Alcaraz broke Struff’s six-match winning streak with a result of 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4) and managed thus reaching the final. -eight clash with seventh seed Andrei Rublev.
Top seed Jannik Sinner was battling a hip problem but managed to beat Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final in as many events this season.
Alcaraz, who missed Monte Carlo and Barcelona with a forearm injury, saved eight of 10 break points and saw four match points come and go before completing the two-hour, 52-minute win.
Alcaraz, who is now 24-0 on the Spanish clay since the start of the 2022 season, wants to become the first player to win three consecutive Madrid titles.
After leading 2-0 in the second set, Alcaraz opened a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak, but lost the next five points and surrendered the set to Struff, who came into the tournament thanks to a first ATP title in Munich.
A break of serve in the fourth game of the decider gave Alcaraz the scoring cushion he needed, but the two-time Grand Slam champion was broken while serving for victory from 40-0 to 5-3.
Struff saved four match points and the match fittingly ended in a decisive tiebreak. Alcaraz let a 3-0 lead slip away, but he got his hands on more match points by landing an inch-perfect lob and closing in on his fifth chance of the match.
“This match reminds me of last year. It was a great fight,” Alcaraz said after equaling Rafael Nadal’s record streak in Madrid.
“It was difficult for me to deal with my emotions, to deal with difficult moments. When serving for the match it was very difficult for me to be broken after being 40-0 ahead, but I am very happy that that was the case in the end.” It didn’t affect me and my mentality and I kept fighting.”
Sinner won 80 percent of the points after his first serve against Khachanov, hitting 35 winners and 29 unforced errors in the two-hour, nine-minute battle.
The reigning Australian Open champion will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who defeated Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-5 for a place in the semi-finals.
“I’m certainly not at 100 percent physically today. Tomorrow I have a day off, which can help me get through it,” said the Italian.
Meanwhile, third seed Medvedev completed his full run of Masters 1000 quarterfinals by beating Alexander Bublik 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
After grabbing the tiebreak in the opening set, Medvedev moved to a 5-1 lead before Bublik halted his momentum and reduced his deficit to just one game.
But Medvedev was given a second chance to serve for the win and this time he comfortably converted his first match point to reach the last eight stage or better at each of the nine Masters 1000 events.
– Swiatek fights back –
On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek was left to sweat in her 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Brazilian left-hander Beatriz Haddad Maia as she dropped her first set of the tournament and needed two and a half hours to reach the top reach. a second consecutive Madrid semi-final.
Swiatek squandered a 4-1 lead to lose the first set, but the world number one hit back with a vengeance and cut back on her mistakes to sweep the next eight games.
Haddad Maia stopped the rot by breaking Swiatek in the third game of the decider, but the Brazilian’s comeback attempt was short-lived.
The 22-year-old Swiatek won four of the last five matches to set up a last-four showdown with American 18th seed Madison Keys.
“I had to stick to the tactics because in the first set I started making too many mistakes. I started playing too fast,” Swiatek said.
“I just really had to get back to basics and what I wanted to play today. It took a while, longer than usual, but I’m glad it happened after the set.”
Swiatek has now reached the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the fifteenth time – the most for a player under the age of 23.
The 29-year-old Keys came back from 0-6, 0-2 down to upset 2022 champion Ons Jabeur 0-6, 7-5, 6-1. She broke the Tunisian’s nine-match winning streak in Madrid and reached her first semi-final at the Caja Magica, on her tenth appearance.
Keys becomes only the third American woman to reach the final four stages of the two WTA 1000 clay-court events – Rome and Madrid – joining Serena and Venus Williams.
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