MADRID — Ons Jabeur, Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal are through to the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.
Tunisia’s Jabeur defeated ninth seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in straight sets.
Jabeur, who is seeded eighth in Madrid, made the perfect start as she broke in the first game on the way to a 6-0 6-4 win.
The 2023 Wimbledon finalist will play American Madison Keys in the last eight.
Swiatek of Poland is also through to the quarter-finals thanks to a dominant straight-set victory against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The world number one was broken in the first game of the match but then won the next 12 in a row for a 6-1 6-0 triumph.
Swiatek, 22, needed just 68 minutes to seal the win and will now play 11th seed Biatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the last eight.
Nadal continued to make a successful return from injuries by reaching the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open with a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory over Pedro Cachin.
A five-time winner of the event in his native Spain, Nadal is playing in just his third event of 2024 and reached the fourth round of any event for the first time since 2022.
Nadal, 37, delivered on nine of his 18 break-point chances and fired 35 winners to reach the Madrid quarter-finals for a 10th time.
“Some moments were good, some moments not good, but I found a way to go through,” Nadal said. “In the third set, even with some mistakes, I was able to be a little more unpredictable and that probably changed the match.”
“I am enjoying (things, but) let’s see how I wake up tomorrow,” Nadal said after the three-hour, four-minute match.
“I don’t know. Day by day, I am enjoying playing at home; it means everything to me,” Nadal added according to Reuters.
“I am trying my best to keep dreaming. To keep playing in front of this amazing crowd and to me that means everything.”
Nadal broke Cachin’s serve three times in the first five games in the opening set, closing it out against the Argentina native 6-1 on a service break.
Cachin answered by breaking Nadal in the opening game of the second set and then breaking again to lead 4-1.
Nadal rallied back with three service breaks to force a tiebreaker, but Cachin took a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak and closed out the set to even the match.
Nadal lost his serve once in the final set but broke Cachin’s serve twice over the final five games to finish off the victory.
“In the third set, even with some mistakes, I was able to be a little more unpredictable and that probably changed the match,” Nadal said.
Nadal is set to square off in the quarter-finals against Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, who was a 6-4, 7-6 (7) winner over Thaigo Monteiro of Brazil. Lehecka, 22, fired 10 aces and won 77 per cent of his first service points to win in the third round.
Nadal has never faced Lehecka.
Nadal is competing in his third tournament of the year, having lost in the second round in Barcelona last week.
With his victory against World No. 91 Cachin, Nadal improved his clay-court record against players outside the Top 50 in the ATP Rankings to 162-1 since 2005. His only defeat in that 19-year period came against No. 73 Horacio Zeballos in Vina del Mar.
Cachin had lost his previous 15 tour-level matches before arriving in Madrid but fought valiantly to put pressure on the former World No. 1.
Nadal holds a 59-14 tournament record in Madrid and will aim to reach his 10th consecutive quarter-final in the Spanish capital when he plays Jiri Lehecka.
The 37-year-old, who defeated World No. 11 Alex de Minaur in the second round, was dominant in the first set against Cachin, firing 14 winners and forcing his opponent deep with his heavy forehand to lead in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.
In other third-round matches, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, the No. 3 seed, rallied for a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over No. 25 seed Sebastian Korda. No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway, rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 29 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain.
No. 17 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan rallied for the 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over No. 14 Ben Shelton, while Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced when Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic retired after trailing 6-1, 1-0 in the second set.
The Spaniard then saved two set points in the second set on Cachin’s serve, rallying from a double break down and 3-5 behind to level at 5-5. Both players were then broken before Cachin eventually sealed the set on his third set point with a backhand return winner.
The 29-year-old has only won two tour-level matches since last July, though, and struggled to maintain his level in the decider, with Nadal upping his.
The 36-time Masters 1000 champ cut down on errors in the third set and demonstrated his physical capabilities by consistently tracking down balls during the third hour of the match.
Nadal overpowered Cachin with his bulldozing forehand during the closing stages of the third set and let out a roar after earning his sixth tour-level win of the season.
