Rafael Jódar Beats De Minaur, Sets Jodar Tennis Sinner Test

Rafael Jódar beat Alex de Minaur, João Fonseca and Vít Kopřiva to reach a Madrid Open quarter-final against Jannik Sinner, a jodar tennis run that has already become the Spaniard’s best showing at an ATP 1000 event. The teenage Spaniard arrives there after beating a top 10 player on home soil, with Wednesday carrying the first two men’s quarter-finals of the tournament.

Jódar’s Madrid Open surge

Jódar’s route was built on three straight wins, and the last of them put him into a meeting with the world number one. De Minaur, Fonseca and Kopřiva were the names he cleared before the bracket brought him face to face with Sinner.

That sequence stands out because it came in the same event where Aryna Sabalenka was eliminated on Tuesday, adding another surprise to a draw that had already begun to tilt. Jódar’s run is also notable for the level of opponent he has already handled: one of his wins came over a top 10 player.

Sinner’s quarter-final path

Sinner reached the same round after losing his first set to Benjamin Bonzi, then winning his next two matches in emphatic fashion. The world number one now meets a player who has already beaten three opponents to get here, and whose best ATP 1000 run has come in Madrid.

The matchup puts Jódar in front of the highest-ranked player in the draw after a stretch that already included wins in Marrakech and a run to the semi-finals in Barcelona. For Jódar, the quarter-final is the next step in a breakout week; for Sinner, it is another test after a bumpy first set against Bonzi before he settled into control.