Rafael Jodar is enjoying a stellar run on clay in April, crowning it with his first Masters 1000 quarter-final in Madrid.
The hometown hero faced Vit Kopriva in the fourth round and provided a 7-5, 6-0 victory in an hour and 18 minutes.
The 19-year-old grabbed a late break in the opener and provided a bagel in set number two to advance to the last eight and arrange the quarter-final clash with world no. 1 Jannik Sinner.
The Madrid native served at 54% and drew most from that. A teenager defended his second serve superbly and denied two break points in the only troubled service game to mount the pressure on the other side.Â
Kopriva fought well in the first half of the match despite massive issues with his first serve. The Czech gave away nearly half of the points in his games and gt broken four times in a row to end his campaign in the last 16.
Rafael tamed his strokes nicely and outplayed his rival in the shortest rallies up to four strokes. He also welcomed 30 unforced errors from Kopriva’s racket. They served well in the opening six games before Vit stepped in on the return at 3-3.
Jodar missed a forehand and faced two break points. The Madrid native defended the first with a service winner, and his rival missed a drop shot on the second. The Spaniard held and served well by the end of the duel.
Kopriva closed the tenth game with a service winner for 5-5 and wished for another fine service game at 5-6. However, Rafael stepped in and secured a break at love after the rival’s loose forehand for 7-5 after 48 minutes.
A teenager held at the beginning of the second set with a service winner and generated four break points on the return in the next one. He converted the last after Vit’s forehand error for a 2-0 lead.
The home player grabbed the third game at love with a service winner and painted a backhand down the line winner a few minutes later for his third straight break and a 4-0 advantage.
Jodar held at 15 in the fifth game to extend the gap and made another push on the return in the next one. He earned a match point with a backhand return winner and converted it after Vit’s loose forehand for eight straight games and a place in the quarter-final.