The two-time major victor is set to face Germany’s 23rd seed, Jan-Lennard Struff, in the round of 16, a rematch of the 2023 final. Photo: Dailyimages
The reigning champion, Carlos Alcaraz, smoothly advanced to the round of 16 at the Madrid Open with a commanding victory over Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Ranked third in the world, Alcaraz clinched a 6-3, 6-3 win over Brazil’s Seyboth Wild.
Maintaining his stronghold at the tournament, the second-seeded Alcaraz has now triumphed in 2022 and 2023.
“After today’s match, I feel like I’ve passed a crucial test. I feel no discomfort whatsoever, I feel fantastic. We’ll only get better from here,” said the 20-year-old Alcaraz.
Despite donning a compression sleeve on his right arm due to a recent injury that led to his withdrawal from the Barcelona Open, Alcaraz exhibited no signs of discomfort en route to a straightforward victory against his unseeded adversary.
Alcaraz secured two breaks in each set, storming to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Despite Seyboth Wild’s late break, Alcaraz sealed the win in just 75 minutes.
“I was perhaps a bit nervous today about how my forearm would hold up against Thiago’s powerful shots. But it turned out well,” Alcaraz added.
With a staggering win percentage of 93.3%, Alcaraz boasts the highest success rate at the Madrid Open among all players in a single ATP-1000 event since its inception in 1990 (minimum 10 matches played).
Struff, fresh off his triumph at the BMW Open in Munich, defeated French 13th seed Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-4 to advance.
In other men’s matches, Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev overcame Spanish 27th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (12-10), 6-4, while Polish eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz defeated Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
In the women’s category, Kazakh fourth seed Elena Rybakina, the winner of last week’s Stuttgart Open, dispatched Egypt’s Mayar Sherif 6-1, 6-4.
She is slated to face the Czech Republic’s unseeded Sara Bejlek in the fourth round after Bejlek’s victory over American Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 6-1.
Notably, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova exited the tournament following a 7-5, 6-1 loss to 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva.
