Rafael Nadal has looked untouchable this clay-court season, but he could face arguably his toughest test yet early at the Mutua Madrid Open. The 29-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion is seeded to meet Australian shotmaker Nick Kyrgios in the third round.

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Kyrgios, the 16^th seed in Madrid, will return to action next week after withdrawing from Estoril following the passing of his grandfather. A semi-finalist in Miami in his most recent Masters 1000 outing, Kyrgios will first need to come through an opening-round match against veteran Marcos Baghdatis and a potential second-round battle over fellow Aussie Bernard Tomic. Meanwhile, third seed Nadal could have a tricky opening match against the winner of Portugal’s Joao Sousa and Italian Fabio Fognini. Although Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 8-3, Fognini thrives on clay and has beaten Nadal twice on this surface.

Nadal and Kyrgios are even in their FedEx ATP Head2Head at 1-1, but both matches were lengthy tussles. The Spaniard prevailed in a deciding set in their lone meeting on clay last year in Rome.

Top seed and last year’s Madrid runner-up Andy Murray will open his campaign against a wild card in Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Marius Copil. He finds himself in a tricky quarter of the draw that could include a third round with flashy 13^th seed Lucas Pouille and quarter-final showdown with eighth seed Dominic Thiem or 12^th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Thiem upset Murray last week in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell for his first victory over a World No. 1.

Second seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will also need to be on from the start when he begins his title defence against a clay-court expert in Tommy Robredo or Nicolas Almagro. Looming ahead is a potential third-round match with 15^th seed Gael Monfils and quarter-final battle with sixth seed Kei Nishikori, who makes his debut this spring after pulling out of Barcelona with a right wrist injury.

Third seed Stan Wawrinka appears to have reversed his fortune at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events after a string of early exits last year, reaching the final at the BNP Paribas Open (l. Federer). The former Roland Garros and Monte-Carlo champion will start the week with a stern test against Benoit Paire or Pablo Carreno Busta. An in-form Jack Sock, the 14^th seed, could await him in the third round. Wawrinka’s matches won’t get any easier with a possible quarter-final against seventh seed Marin Cilic.

Other intriguing first-round matches in Madrid include ninth seed David Goffin squaring off with #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov, an all-French battle pitting Monfils against Gilles Simon and #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev facing home favourite Fernando Verdasco.

Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta got revenge over defending Millennium Estoril Open champion Nicolas Almagro, avenging a loss to his fellow Spaniard in last year’s final with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final win on Friday. 

Carreno Busta evens his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Almagro at 1-1 with the victory. He picked up his 20^th ATP World Tour win of the season and moves into his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of 2017. The Spaniard is seeking his second final of the year after finishing runner-up this February in Rio de Janeiro (l. Thiem).

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Awaiting him in the semi-finals is another Spaniard in fourth seed David Ferrer, who continued his resurgence this week with a dominant 6-4, 6-0 win over Ryan Harrison. Ferrer boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Harrison to 4-0, but this is his first win over the American without dropping a set.

Ferrer is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the season. He snapped a five-match losing streak with his opening-round win on Thursday over fellow wild card Frederico Ferreira Silva. The veteran leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Carreno Busta 1-0, but they haven’t played in three years.

Marin Cilic became the third Croatian in ATP World Tour history to record 400 match wins (or more) on Friday when he booked his spot in the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open semi-finals.

Cilic joined fellow Croats Goran Ivanisevic (599) and Ivan Ljubicic (429) in passing the milestone after the second seed defeated eighth seed Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-1 in 45 minutes, losing just four of his service points. It was the pair’s first meeting since March 2009 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

“This was the best match for me this year considering how I moved and took the ball early. This was the way I need to play,” said Cilic. “I’m extremely happy with this and am completely focused for the next matches.”

He will now challenge defending champion and third seed Diego Schwartzman, who improved to 10-1 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament when he beat Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 32 minutes.

“Whenever I come here, I have a lot of confidence to play,” said Schwartzman. “Today I played well again on Centre Court, but Dusan started a little bit better than me. I then played really good tennis at the end of the first set and in the second, I kept pushing and didn’t make many mistakes. It’s great to be in another semi-final.”

Cilic, who watched Schwartzman play Lajovic, said, “(Diego) played a very solid match, his qualities mean he defends well and is extremely quick. A clay-court game definitely suits him, so I will have to work hard and expect a few more rallies.”

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Top seed Milos Raonic fired 25 aces to knock out sixth seed Bernard Tomic 7-6(4), 7-6(6). That tied a mark with Wayne Arthurs (Munich, 2003) for the most aces hit in a two-set tour-level clay-court match since records were kept in 1991.) The Canadian, who saved one set point at 5/6 in the second set tie-break, has not lost a set in any of their five meetings.

“I wasn’t able to dictate and control the court, but I served well and it kept me alive in the match,” said Raonic. “I definitely had more chances in the first set as I felt I was the one controlling, although I didn’t get ahead. I was holding easily, and even though it went to a tie-break, I felt comfortable. He had a chance at the start of the second set. I fought as hard as I could and it came down to a few shots.”

Raonic will now look to extend his 4-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead against fifth seed Viktor Troicki, who advanced when leading 6-2, 3-3 against fellow Serbian Laslo Djere, who retired due to dizziness.

Czechs Reach Doubles Final

Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely continued their top form to reach the doubles final over Aussies John-Patrick Smith and Jordan Thompson 7-6(4), 7-5. The Czech pair defeated second seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Dominic Inglot on Thursday.

In quarter-final action, Antonio Sancic and Adil Shamasdin needed three match point opportunities to edge past top seeds Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 in 78 minutes for a place in the semi-finals. They will next face wild cards Tuna Altuna and Alessandro Motti, who defeated third seeds Jonathan Erlich and Scott Lipsky 7-5, 3-6, 10-7

Third seed and #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev was made to work hard on Friday at the BMW Open by FWU, advancing to the Munich semi-finals after taking a marathon 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) battle over seventh seed and fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff.

Zverev matches last year’s semi-final finish in Munich with the win. He captured his second ATP World Tour singles crown this February in Montpellier and also took the doubles title with brother Mischa Zverev. The #NextGenATP German also improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Struff to 2-0.

Stuff broke the third seed in his opening service game and held that lead to grab the first set. Both players held serve throughout the second set, but Zverev dominated the tie-break to force a decider. Struff rallied from 2/5 in the final-set tie-break to even the score, but Zverev won the final two points to prevail in two hours and 13 minutes. 

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Next up for Zverev is second seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who advanced to the Munich semi-finals for the second time in three years by defeating German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3 in 68 minutes. Hanfmann, currently No. 273 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, was playing in his first ATP World Tour main draw. He beat Gerald Melzer and saved one match point to edge eighth seed Thomaz Bellucci in reaching the last eight.

Bautista Agut, this season’s Aircel Chennai Open titlist, fought back from 3-5 in the deciding set in his opening match this week against Marius Copil. He leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Zverev 2-0, but they haven’t played in more than two years.

“I had a great match today. I hit a lot of good returns and was solid, so I’m very happy,” said Bautista Agut. “I’m looking forward to playing Zverev again. He has a strong serve and a good forehand, so it’s going to be a tough match.”

Qualifier Guido Pella continued his impressive run with a lengthy 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(3) over fellow Argentine Horacio Zeballos. The in-form Zeballos produced an inspired comeback in the second set, rallying from 2-5 and saving two match points on his serve at 4-5 to eventually force a decider. But the qualifier refused to be rattled as both players held serve throughout the final set to force a tie-break. Pella raced to a 3/0 lead and made good on his first match point to prevail in two hours and 38 minutes.

The 26-year-old Pella, currently No. 158 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since May 2013 in Dusseldorf, which he also achieved as a qualifier. The Argentine’s current ranking does not reflect his form in recent month, as evidenced by a win over Grigor Dimitrov this March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.

Pella will play the winner of the match between #NextGenATP Korean Hyeon Chung and Martin Klizan. The match was suspended due to darkness with Chung leading 6-4, 3-6, 3-2. Chung and Klizan will finish their match on Saturday and the winner faces Pella that same day.

DOUBLES

Third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah reached their second straight ATP World Tour doubles final with a comeback 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 win over Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic, avenging their loss to Baker/Mektic last week in the Budapest final. The Colombian duo will play fourth seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos or French pair Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the final.

Novak Djokovic announced on Friday that he is seeking a new direction in his tennis career and has parted ways with his coach Marian Vajda, fitness trainer Gebhard Phil Gritsch and physio Miljan Amanovic. The World No. 2 took the decision after a quarter-final exit at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Goffin). Next week, he will look to retain his title at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I am forever grateful to Marian, GG and Miljan for a decade of friendship, professionalism and commitment to my career goals,” said Djokovic, in a statement on his official website. “Without their support I couldn’t have achieved these professional heights.

“I know [that] they completely dedicated themselves and their lives to help me achieve my dreams and they were always my driving force. It was not an easy decision, but we all felt that we need a change. I am very grateful and proud of our relationship and unbreakable bond that we built through years of mutual love, respect and understanding. They are my family and that will never change.”

Vajda, who had coached Djokovic since June 2006, said, “Time spent with Novak feels like a whole lifetime. We were part of many of his incredible achievements, we were living and breathing for his dreams. I gave everything I could as a coach and I am very proud of our results. We arrived to the point where we all realised we need new energy in the team. Novak can do so much more and I am sure he will.”

Djokovic had worked with Gritsch for eight years and Amanovic for the past 10 years. Former World No. 1 Boris Becker worked as Djokovic’s coach with Vajda from 2013 to 2016.

I have news that I'd like to share with you. https://t.co/ffMD5LZi5V

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) May 5, 2017

The Serbian star, who has compiled a 14-4 record in the 2017 ATP World Tour season, also said that he will not rush into a decision to appoint a new head coach.

“I feel like this is a new chapter in my life,” said Djokovic. “My career was always on the upward path and this time I’m experiencing how it is when the path takes you in a different direction. I want to find a way to come back to the top stronger and more resilient. I have so much faith in this process and that’s why I will take time to find the right person who I can connect with professionally.

“I have been on the Tour long enough to know how to manage daily routines and I don’t want to rush my decision. I will be on the Tour alone for a while with support of my family and management. I will inform the public when I find the right person, but for now I thank you for your support and understanding.

“I want to continue raising the level of my game and stamina and this is a continuous process. I enjoy this journey. It feels like I am starting something new again and I love this challenge. I am a hunter and my biggest goal is to find the winning spark on the court again.”

Djokovic, who will turn 30 on 22 May, has put together a 765-159 match record with 67 titles – including 12 Grand Slams and 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns – since turning professional in 2003. The Mutua Madrid Open, where he beat Andy Murray in the 2016 final, begins on 7 May.