Sinner Tames Upstart Jodar In Madrid, Makes ATP Masters 1000 History

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (photo: Mateo Villalba/MMO)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, April 29, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner came into his Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinal match on Wednesday afternoon against Spanish wild card Rafael Jodar with poise and experience as his allies, looking to complete the set of semifinals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.

By the end of their one-hour, 56-minute tussle, Sinner’s 6-2, 7-6 (0) victory over the 42nd-ranked teenage upstart meant mission accomplished. He became the sixth man in series history to achieve the ATP Masters 1000 feat.

Coupled with a 21-match winning streak that has come with winning three-consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo over the past two months, the 24-year-old Italian has now won 26-straight ATP Masters 1000 matches that stretches back to the Rolex Paris Masters last October.

Sinner has been nothing if not steady and confident on the tennis court through his history-making journey, as his 27-2 win-loss record this season attests. His success has also allowed him to be a student of the history of the game, too. He was asked during his on-court interview if achieving the Madrid semifinals was the hardest one of them all.

“I don’t know,” Sinner said during his on-court interview. “I feel like reaching the semis in every tournament is tough. But look, I try to improve on every surface and the conditions here are unique. I’m happy. Let’s see what’s coming.”

With Sinner’s impressive victory over Jodar, in which he saved all seven break points he faced, he joins Roger Federer (2006) and Rafael Nadal (2010-11) as the only men to reach semifinals at all of the first four ATP Masters 1000 events of season since the series began in 1990.

“He pushed me to the limit,” Sinner said, giving props to the Madrid native Jodar. He also signed the camera lens “What a player!” 

Sinner added: “He’s an incredible player. I tried to be ready as much as I could, first time playing against him. So, for the next time, hopefully, we play against him, I’ll know what to expect. He knows what to expect.”

Despite walking off the court without a triumph over Sinner, Jodar can hold his head up high. Earlier in the tournament, he secured the first Top-10 victory of his career, defeating World No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia, and won a battle of #NextGenATP teen-aged stars against Joao Fonseca of Brazil, both before packed houses that filled the 12,500-seat Manolo Santana Stadium.

Plus, Jodar’s 12-2 win-loss record on clay this season, after winning his first ATP Tour-level event at Marrakech, reaching the semifinals at Barcelona and becoming a quarterfinalist in Madrid, means he will head to Rome next week ranked in the Top 40. Now, as one of the biggest rising talents on the ATP Tour, Jodar has an outside chance of being seeded for Roland-Garros. 

Looking back on the quarterfinal, Sinner won the 46-minute opening set after opening a double-break lead against Jodar. He hit six winners and took advantage of 15 unforced errors by the 19-year-old Spaniard. Sinner won points from both the baseline as well as at the net. He won most of his points in short rallies that were nine shots or less.

Although Sinner was tested only once in the first set, during his second service game when he faced a break point, the 24-year-old Italian worked his way through a lengthy 14-point game unflustered and eventually held serve. It was the only time during the opening set that Sinner played from behind in the score on serve. Then, he turned right around and broke Jodar on his third try in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead and built upon it from there. 

Next, from 3-2 in the second set, Jodar gained a pair of break points at 15-40 during the sixth game by hitting a blistering 103-mph forehand winner past Sinner. However, Sinner saved the first break point with a forehand winner that capped a six-shot skirmish. Then, he gained a deuce point after hitting a fifth-shot lob over Jodar’s head for another winner. Sinner did not waiver during either point. Soon, he won a 12-shot rally to gain an Ad-point, then put away the six-minute-plus game with a cross-court forehand winner to hold for 3-all.

Later, Jodar gained another 15-40 break-point advantage during Sinner’s next service game, leading 4-3 and looking to go ahead by a break. However, Sinner once again saved the first break point with a forehand winner, then gained deuce by winning a 13-shot rally with an authoritative forehand winner. Although Jodar gained another break point against Sinner, the Italian star saved it with a backhand winner that skidded through the service box and left the Spaniard looking perplexed. Sinner went on to hold serve for 4-all, saving three break points along the way as the quarterfinal reached the 90-minute mark.

In the ninth game, Sinner gained a double-break point at 15-40. However, Jodar saved both of them after Sinner whiffed on a couple of first-ball returns. Then, Jodar saved a third break-point during the game with a third-shot forehand winner to Sinner’s backhand side. Next, Jodar wrong-footed Sinner with a third-shot backhand winner but Sinner gained deuce on an unforced error. Soon, Jodar held serve for 5-4, winning the seven-minute-plus 12-point game after Sinner air-mailed a forehand return. 

In the next game, Sinner held for 5-all under pressure with a powerful forehand winner to cap a three-shot rally. Next, Jodar held his nerve by holding serve to pull ahead 6-5, but Sinner came back and held at love for the first time to force a second-set tiebreaker.

Sinner jumped ahead in the tie-break 3-0 with a mini break and a couple of service holds. Then, he broke Jodar again for 4-0 after the Spaniard returned a backhand long. Soon, it was 5-0 Sinner after a ninth-shot backhand by Jodar went over the baseline, and it became 6-0 after Sinner won his 10th straight point. With one last nine-shot forehand winner, Sinner defeated Jodar. He finished with 28 winners to 12 unforced errors, compared to 19 winners and 16 unforced errors by Jodar. Sinner broke his opponent’s serve twice in nine tries and saved all seven break-point attempts from Jodar. He was ahead on total points at the conclusion of the match, 86-65.

By the end, Sinner never gave Jodar any glimpse of momentum to build upon.

On Friday, Sinner will face either World No. 14 and 11th seed Jiri Lehecka of Czechia or World No. 25 and 21st seed Arthur Fils of France, who play later Wednesday evening.

Around the Caja Magica

• The remaining two men’s singles quarterfinals will be contested on Manolo Santana Stadium on Thursday. First, No. 12 seed Casper Ruud of Norway will face Alexander Blockx of Belgium at 1 p.m. Madrid time. Then, at 8 p.m., it will be No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany against No. 10 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy.

• In doubles, No. 4 seeds Christian Harrison of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain were upset by unseeded Andre Goransson of Sweden and Harrison’s former partner, Evan King of the United States, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 15-13, in one hour and 52 minutes on Stadium 3 despite being outpointed 82-73.

The Swedish/American duo will face Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina in the quarterfinal round after the Argentines advanced over No. 7 seeds Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain, 6-0, 6-4, in 61 minutes on Stadium 3.

In a match-up of unseeded teams, Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Manuel Guinard of France advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 5-7, 6-1, 11-9 victory over Luciano Darderi of Italy and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, in one hour and 27 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. They won on their fifth match-point opportunity. In the quarterfinals, Andreozzi and Guinard will face Romain Arneodo and Valentin Vacherot of Monaco.

Also, unseeded Luke Johnson of Great Britain and Jan Zielinski of Poland reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-3 win over unseeded Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands and Brandon Nakashima of the United States in one hour and 13 minutes on Stadium 3. Next, Johnson and Zielinski will face unseeded Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France, who eliminated Spanish wild cards Pablo Llamas Ruiz and Benjamin Winter Lopez, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and 12 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.

Wednesday’s Madrid Open results

Thursday’s Madrid Open order of play

By the numbers

With his win over Rafael Jodar on Wednesday, Jannik Sinner has joined Rafael Nadal (2009), Novak Djokovic (2009), Roger Federer (2010), Andy Murray (2015) and Alexander Zverev (2026) as players who have reached the semifinals of all nine ATP Masters 1000 events during their career.

“Quotable …”

“I’m incredibly happy. It was a very high-quality match. I got a bit lucky in the second set, but also a little bit of experience. I’m very happy about today’s match, and obviously very happy to be in the semis here for the first time. It means a lot to me. We will see how it goes.”

– World No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, during his on-court interview following his quarterfinal victory over 42nd-ranked wild card Rafael Jodar of Spain.

 

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