MADRID: Jannik Sinner ended the inspired run of teen home favourite Rafael Jodar with a 6-2, 7-6(7/0) victory at the Madrid Open on Wednesday to complete his set of semi-finals reached at all nine Masters 1000 tournaments.

The 19-year-old Jodar has taken the tour by storm this clay season, winning a maiden ATP title in Marrakesh, and making the semi-finals in Barcelona and the quarter-finals in Madrid before he was stopped by the world number one at the Caja Magica.

This time last year, Jodar was playing college tennis for the University of Virginia and was ranked 687 in the world. He will crack the top 35 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Sinner was seriously tested before he extended his current winning streak to 21 consecutive matches.

The first-set scoreline may have read 6-2 but it was far from a routine affair for Sinner, who found himself facing a young opponent who could match his firepower, particularly on the forehand wing.

The Italian was tested in multiple service games, including a marathon one at 2-2, and had to save a pair of break points before he took a one-set lead in 44 minutes.

Leaning on the rowdy home support that included several Real Madrid stars, past and present, Jodar skirted danger at the start of the second set and put pressure on the Sinner serve.

But despite his best efforts, Jodar couldn’t convert any of the five break points he created as Sinner levelled for 4-4.

The set fittingly went to a tiebreak, which was dominated by Sinner, who won the last 11 points of the match to advance to his first Madrid semi-final.

Lucky loser Anastasia Potapova reached the first WTA 1000 semi-final of her career with a hard-fought 6-1, 6-7(4/7), 6-3 performance against former world number one Karolina Pliskova.

The world number 56, who knocked out Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina and Jelena Ostapenko in the previous two rounds, awaits Marta Kostyuk or Linda Noskova in the final four.

On Tuesday, Hailey Baptiste ended Aryna Sabalenka’s title defence in Madrid and halted the world number one’s 15-match winning streak with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(8/6) quarter-final victory to deliver the biggest shock of the tournament so far.

The American saved five match points at 4-5 in the decider and a sixth in the tiebreak before she handed Sabalenka just her second defeat of the year, and her first since the Austr­alian Open final three months ago.

Sabalenka is a three-time champion in Madrid and reached the final in the Spanish capital in each of the last three editions of the event but was unable to shake off the 30th-seeded Baptiste, who peppered her with huge serves and ultra-aggressive groundstrokes to reach a maiden WTA 1000 semi-final.

Baptiste came up with huge serves in several crucial moments - finishing the duel with a total of 12 aces and 10 double faults — and even saved a match point with a bold serve-and-volley approach on her way to a memorable two-hour 30-minute triumph.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2026