Two bottom-half men’s singles quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open. 2-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz got himself into real trouble against Jan-Lennard Struff in the fourth round and will need to step it up now against Andrey Rublev. Can the Spaniard, who has won his last 14 matches at this venue, come out on top again at ATP Madrid?
ATP Madrid Quarterfinal Predictions
Taylor Fritz vs Francisco Cerundolo
Head-to-head: Cerundolo 1-0
Francisco Cerundolo pulled off a huge upset on Tuesday, taking down two-time champion Alexander Zverev. He had no issues returning most of the German’s serves into the court and really backed himself in rallies against him. It wasn’t even one of these peak forehand days; he showed a much more controlled approach to the matchup, and he prevailed.
Taylor Fritz might be the slight favorite here, anyway. Cerundolo beat him in Paris last year, but the conditions in Madrid will allow the American for a lot more early aggression on his delivery. To beat the odds again, his opponent will likely need to step out of his comfort zone even more than he did against Zverev. Otherwise, he might not find a way to respond to Fritz’s attacking power.
Prediction: Fritz in 3
Carlos Alcaraz vs Andrey Rublev
Head-to-head: Alcaraz 1-0
This is one of the top-player matchups we haven’t really gotten the chance to explore yet. It seems like Carlos Alcaraz’s quality gap and wide skillset will generally help him out massively against Andrey Rublev, but the Spaniard looked very uncomfortable in the deciding set against Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday. We’ll probably know soon whether it was just nerves or the arm issue bothering him.
If Alcaraz once again avoids fully going after his forehand, does a chance open up for Rublev here? This week has already been a major confidence boost for the Russian after losing four matches in a row recently. It feels like the matchup edge might be big enough for the two-time defending champion to prevail, even if he’s not playing anything close to his best again.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 3
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports
