MADRID/WASHINGTON, April 30, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
Alexander Blockx began the month of April looking for his first ATP Tour win on clay as well as his first Top-20 victory. Then, in short order, the 69th-ranked Blockx reached the third round at Monte-Carlo after knocking off No. 16 Flavio Cobolli, and followed it up with victories over No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo to reach his first tour-level quarterfinal at the Mutua Madrid Open, securing his ATP Top 50 debut.
On Thursday, Blockx, a 21-year-old from Antwerp, Belgium, became just the second man born in 2005 or later to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semifinal after upsetting World No. 15 and 12th seed Casper Ruud, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and 36 minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium. He did it by producing an all-around display, hitting effectively from both wings. The 6-foot-4-inch Blockx was equally confident in scoring points off of hitting solid groundstrokes as he was in adroitly placing drop shots that barely cleared the net, which kept Ruud guessing and off-balance.
Blockx dethrones reigning champion Ruud (6-4, 6-4) to reach his career-first Masters 1000 semifinal in Madrid. pic.twitter.com/5EYR8AhI3W
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 30, 2026
It was the third Top-20 triumph for Blockx in a single tournament, and he’s just the third Belgian ATP Masters 1000 semifinalist in series history – and the first one in Madrid. Blockx is also the fourth lowest-ranked player to reach the semifinals in Madrid tournament history.
“To be honest, I’m just happy with being here,” Blockx expressed during his on-court interview, after securing his ninth tour-level win of the season. “Even winning my first match here. I barely escaped in the first round, and I was happy about that already. Semifinals is something I wouldn’t have even dreamed of to begin with.”
As it happened, Blockx put away the 51-minute opening set 6-4 on his fourth set-point opportunity with a third-shot forehand winner. It was his six winner of the set and it capitalized on his second break of Ruud’s serve during the previous game. Blockx won the majority of his points from the baseline and many of them were on rallies that lasted less than nine shots.
Upset alert
Blockx takes the opening set from defending champion Ruud (6-4) in the Manolo Santana Stadium.@atptour | @ATPTour_ES | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/ygSeolQRgR
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 30, 2026
Then, as their battle intensified in the second set, Blockx broke Ruud for the third time in five tries to go ahead 4-3. He consolidated the break in the next game without any difficulty and found himself needing to win just one more game to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal. Quickly, Blockx gained a match point at 15-40 as the frustration on Ruud’s face began to mount from the rising number of forehand unforced errors – the Norwegian No. 1 made a total of 17.
However, Ruud saved the first match point and took a deep breath after winning a nine-shot rally with a backhand winner. He saved a second match point with an overhead smash after reacting correctly to Blockx, who tried to lift a backhand lob to victory. Eventually, Ruud held his serve to prolong the match for at least another game.
Then, ahead 5-4, Blockx gained three match points at 40-0. Although Ruud saved his third match point, thanks to a double fault by Blockx, the Belgian No. 2 garnered the quarterfinal win over Ruud after the defending champion hit a second-shot forehand return long.
What a win
Blockx takes out defending champ Ruud to charge into the final four in Madrid@atptour #MMOpen https://t.co/iVK1P3rIjr pic.twitter.com/MFk1L4NwPV
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 30, 2026
Blockx’s victory ensured there would be a new Madrid champion come Sunday. With his confidence building round by round, win by win, Blockx figures “why not me?”
By the conclusion, Blockx had won 85 percent (28 of 33) of his first-serve points, hit 19 winners to 17 unforced errors, converted three of seven break-point opportunities and outpointed Ruud 69-58. By comparison, Ruud won just 60 percent (25 of 42) of his first-serve points and hit 19 winners. However, he made 23 unforced errors. The Norwegian No. 1 broke Blockx’s serve one time in three tries, early in the opening set.
“I’m proud of how I’ve played these past couple of matches,” the soft-spoken Blockx said during his on-court interview. “I think the conditions suit me well here. I feel like it’s clay which is slow, so I have time to settle and hit my shots, go for my shots. At the same time, it’s quite fast with the altitude and the heat sometimes. I think it’s the perfect combination for me.”
Alexander Blockx ATP clay-court wins before April 2026: 0
Alexander Blockx ATP clay-courts wins in April 2026:
✅ Shapovalov
✅ Cobolli
✅ Hanfmann
✅ Garin
✅ Nakashima
✅ Auger-Aliassime
✅ Cerundolo
✅ Ruud#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/SuVZ9ejxMp— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 30, 2026
On Friday evening at 8 p.m. Madrid time, Blockx will play either World No. 3 and second seed Alexander Zverev of Germany or World No. 13 and 10th seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy. The other semifinal, beginning not before 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, will match World No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner versus World No. 25 and 21st seed Arthur Fils of France.
Around the Caja Magica
In doubles, No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain advanced to the semifinal round with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over last year’s finalists and this year’s No. 5 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, in one hour and 28 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. Heliovaara and Patten converted two of 12 break points and outointed their opponents 72-57.
On Friday, Heliovaara and Patten will face Luke Johnson of Great Britain and Jan Zielinski of Poland, who rallied to beat French duo Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6, in one hour and 34 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. In a quarterfinal match-up of unseeded teams, Johnson and Zielinski saved eight of 10 break points and outpointed the Doumbia and Reboul 69-64.
Two other doubles quarterfinal matches were scheduled later Thursday.
Thursday’s Madrid Open results
Friday’s Madrid Open order of play
By the numbers
Alexander Blockx is the third Belgian man to reach the semifinal round of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The others are Christophe Rochus (2005) and David Goffin (5 times between 2016-19).
“Quotable …”
“Always before the match, I’m very curious about what is going to happen. Like, ‘Am I going to feel my ball well and how is my opponent going to play?’ But I thought from the first game I was hitting my ball quite well, and I made every return. … Once I got my first game, I was really into the match.”
– Alexander Blockx of Belgium, during his on-court interview, after defeating World No. 15 and defending champion Casper Ruud to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
