Friday’s play at the Mutua Madrid Open sees the top singles seeds in action for the first time. Among those set to open their campaigns on Day 3 at the ATP Masters 1000 event are defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Monte-Carlo champ Andrey Rublev and last week’s Munich winner, Holger Rune.

Third seed Casper Ruud is also on the slate and joins those three in having claimed a clay-court title this month, the Norwegian’s coming at the ATP 250 in Estoril. Tenth seed Karen Khachanov, 12th seed Hubert Hurkacz and 13th seed Alexander Zverev will also begin their Madrid campaigns, while many singles stars are also set for doubles action.

ATPTour.com breaks down some of the biggest matchups on Friday’s schedule across the men’s singles draw and men’s doubles draw.

[1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)

Fresh off a successful Barcelona title defence, Alcaraz could complete a second Spanish trophy double in as many years by retaining the Madrid crown. Last year at the ATP Masters 1000, Alcaraz beat Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev to triumph on home soil.

While he says he does not feel like a favourite in the Spanish capital, Alcaraz enters in good health and great form.

“Physically, I feel good. I feel 100 per cent,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “I can’t wait to get going in Madrid. With the level I produced in Barcelona, winning the title, I’m coming here with a lot of confidence.”

The Spaniard’s 15-match winning streak at Spanish ATP Tour events is partly explained by further comments he made in press. While some players might feel added pressure to perform in front of their home crowd, Alcaraz said he draws motivation from the support and relishes the opportunity to entertain the Spanish fans.

He will hope to ride their cheers to his first ATP Head2Head win against Emil Ruusuvuori on Friday, with the Finn beating Alcaraz in their lone previous meeting, a three-setter in the 2021 Miami opening round.

But the 24-year-old Ruusuvuori is well aware of the giant strides his opponent has made since that meeting.

“He can pretty much do anything from any court position he is in,” he said of Alcaraz, speaking to ATPTour.com ahead of the matchup. “He’s coming in [to the net] great, super-fast defence, and even the serve has improved. There’s not too much you can actually pick on. Overall, you just have to have the game solid, and at the best possible quality.”

Ruusuvuori made his Madrid debut on Wendesday with a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) win against Ugo Humbert, and will now seek his third Top 10 win — and his first Top 10 win on clay — against Alcaraz.

[5] Andrey Rublev vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

Rublev and Stan Wawrinka will meet for the third straight time at an ATP Masters 1000 in their first matchup overall since the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters. While Wawrinka holds a 2-1 ATP Head2Head lead in the series and already has a Madrid win under his belt this week — a 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4) result against Maxime Cressy on Wednesday — Rublev enters the match in red-hot form after his title in Monte-Carlo and a final run in Banja Luka.

“I think I can play well,” Wawrinka, a 2013 finalist in Madrid, said of the challenge ahead. “I’ve played him a few times already in my career. He’s in top form, it’s going to be a tough battle, but a great challenge for me. That’s the reason I keep playing, to play the top players and try to beat them.”

The Swiss will be seeking his first Top 10 win on clay since he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at Roland Garros in 2019. In order to avoid the unwelcome milestone of a 100th Top 10 defeat (he enters at 61-99 in his career vs. the Top 10, including a 21-31 mark on clay), Wawrinka will need to use his heavy ground game to keep the aggressive Rublev behind the baseline.

The fifth-seeded Rublev has enjoyed plenty of clay-court success throughout his career, showing that there is much more to his game beyond his trademark big hitting. But while his patience and defence helps on the margins, it’s still the attacking baseline game that fuels Rublev’s success on the dirt.

The 25-year-old’s Monte-Carlo title was his biggest ATP Tour triumph on any surface, with four of his 13 tour-level titles coming on clay. With two previous appearances in Madrid, his best result was a quarter-final run last year.

Match of the day 👀 📊@AndreyRublev97 vs @stanwawrinka

Looking forward to this one; they haven’t met since the Paris Masters in 2020 when Wawrinka took a 2-1 lead in their head 2 head

Who do you think is winning this one?#TennisInsights | @atptour | @MutuaMadridOpen pic.twitter.com/I36H12dYM8

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) April 27, 2023

[6] Holger Rune (DEN) vs. Alexander Bublik (KAZ)

Both Rune and Alexander Bublik enter this second-round match on the heels of a dramatic win.

Rune saved four championship points to ultimately defeat Botic van de Zandschulp in a third-set tie-break and retain his Munich title on Sunday. In Madrid, Bublik opened his campaign with a 7-6(15), 6-7(4), 6-4 win against Daniel Elahi Galan that featured a 25-minute opening-set tie-break, the longest of the 2023 ATP Tour season to date.

The result broke a five-match losing streak for Bublik, earning the Montpellier semi-finalist his sixth win of the 2023 season. 

“When you don’t win a lot, it’s tough to finish matches, and I never felt it before because [for the past few seasons I made] 35-plus wins on the season,” Bublik told ATPTour.com after the victory. “[So far this year] I only had five, so finishing matches is not easy. I hope to get the momentum back, play better, and win more matches.”

It won’t get any easier against Rune, who holds an 8-1 clay-court record this season, beginning with his run to the Monte-Carlo final. While Bublik has made no secret that clay is not his favourite surface, he had plenty of time to adapt to the Madrid conditions in his two-hour, 50-minute win against Galan.

He faces a very different opponent in the attack-minded Rune, but his success in the rallies against Galan gives him something to build on as he bids for the upset.

Also In Action…

In evening action in Manolo Santana Stadium, Zverev takes on Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who will enjoy the backing of the late-night crowd in Madrid. Expect a party atmosphere on centre court, with Carballes Baena bidding to back up his first Madrid main-draw win with an upset against the two-time champion in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Zverev claimed the Madrid title in 2018 and 2021 and has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his past five appearances at the ATP Masters 1000. He is bidding for his 350th tour-level win, which would also even his 2023 record at 11-11.

In Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, Ruud faces Italian qualifier Matteo Arnaldi. After winning the Estoril title in early April, Ruud is 2-2 in his past four matches across Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. The 22-year-old Arnaldi picked up his first ATP Masters 1000 win by beating fellow qualifier Benoit Paire in a third-set tie-break on Wednesday and will next attempt to hand Ruud his second straight opening-match defeat in Madrid.

Other notable matchups include 10th seed Khachanov’s meeting with Thiago Monteiro and 12th seed Hurkacz’s opening assignment against Richard Gasquet.

Five doubles matches are also on the Friday schedule. In a matchup of singles stars, Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe take on Cameron Norrie and Tommy Paul, while Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov meet Colombian doubles stalwarts Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also in action against fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, the highest seeds on the day’s doubles slate. That matchup is a rematch of their Monte-Carlo second-round meeting, won by Arevalo/Rojer in a Match Tie-break.

Doubles play began on Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, where four tightly contested matches featured at the ATP Masters 1000 event. While at least one tie-break was played in all four contests, all of them were decided in straight sets.

Sixth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara edged Hubert Hurkacz and Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6(3), saving all seven break points against them and converting on one of their five break chances. The British-Finnish pair survived 10 aces from the singles stars and rose to the occasion in the second-set tie-break to advance to the last 16.

Seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden took a similar path into the second round with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win against Roberto Bautista Agut and Daniel Evans. Bopanna/Ebden won 95 per cent (37/39) of their first-serve points and saved seven of eight break points against them in the victory. They will next face Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(5), 6-3.

Rounding out Thursday’s doubles action, Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow defeated Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov by the narrowest of margins, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

Andy Murray suffered a third straight ATP Masters 1000 opening round defeat on Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, his comeback bid against Andrea Vavassori falling short despite four match point saves in a 6-2, 7-6(7) loss.

Coupled with his first-round loss to Alex de Minaur two weeks ago in Monte-Carlo, Murray is still searching for his first clay win this season.

“Certainly the beginning of the clay season hasn’t been that easy for me, but normally after a few weeks, I start to feel better and play better,” Murray said in his post-match press conference. “Obviously last year, I’m not saying I came here and played unbelievable tennis straightaway, but I was playing well enough to win matches… against good players, top players.”

His next opportunity to find his footing on the clay could come next month in Rome, where he has not competed since 2017. Beyond that, Murray hinted that he could make his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2020.

“There are a few different opinions in my team about what I should be doing,” Murray said of a potential return to the Parisian clay, on which he has competed just once since his run to the 2017 semi-finals.

Asked to further clarify his thinking on Roland Garros, Murray said he was hoping to play in the year’s second Grand Slam.

“I would like to play, just purely because I don’t know if I’ll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go,” he explained. “But I also have ambitions of competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff, and I know that sitting here today that probably doesn’t sound realistic, but I do believe that that’s a possibility. I obviously want to do the right thing there.”

While Murray skipped Roland Garros in each of the past two years to make an early start to his Wimbledon preparations, he recalled his 2016 campaign during which he reached the final in Paris — his best result at the event — before winning his second Wimbledon crown. Conversely, he considered his 2013 Wimbledon title that came after he missed the clay major.

“I don’t know. It’s impossible to say what the right thing to do is, but obviously it’s a Grand Slam. I would like the opportunity to play,” he concluded.

Which shot breaks down more in today’s game? The forehand or the backhand?

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of errors from forehand and backhand returns and groundstrokes uncovers a paradigm shift in the modern game. The traditional school of thought was to go after your opponent’s backhand and hammer away at it until it breaks. Old-school logic makes perfect sense until you see a stats sheet.

In today’s game, the numbers tell you it’s the exact opposite.

It’s now about taking time away from the forehand and rushing it into early errors in the rally. Exploit the size of the backswing. Take time away to prepare. Put the offensive shot on defense and watch the errors flow.

The new school of Infosys ATP match statistics clearly shows that throwing heat at forehands in the 0-4 rally length extracts errors at a significantly higher rate than backhands in longer rallies of 5+ shots or even backhands in general. First-strike forehands are a much bigger liability than any of us thought.

Of the 1276 points played, 73 per cent ended in an error, while 27 per cent were winners. We clearly play a sport of errors much more than winners, and forehands dominate this landscape.

Alcaraz Points Won
The number one way (winners or errors) Alcaraz won points was by extracting forehand errors from his opponents in the 0-4 rally length, with 139, or 20 per cent of total points won. Those forehand errors are comprised of three specific shots:

Overall, Alcaraz extracted 239 forehand errors from his opponents, and 201 backhand errors. Below is the opponent error total.

• Opponent 0-4 forehand errors = 32% (139)
• Opponent 0-4 backhand errors = 29% (129)
• Opponent 5+ forehand errors = 23% (100)
• Opponent 5+ backhand errors = 16% (72)
• Total = 440 errors

Alcaraz forced 61 per cent (268/440) of forehand and backhand return and groundstroke errors in the 0-4 rally length and 39 per cent (172/440) in 5+ rallies. Attack first. Check the scoreboard for an update later.

Opponent Points Won
Alcaraz’s opponents also won most of their points (winners & errors) by extracting forehand errors in the 0-4 shot rally length from Alcaraz with 149, or 26 per cent of their total points won.

Overall, opponents extracted 236 forehand errors from Alcaraz and 182 backhand errors.

• Alcaraz 0-4 forehand errors = 36% (149)
• Alcaraz 0-4 backhand errors = 29% (123)
• Alcaraz 5+ forehand errors = 21% (87)
• Alcaraz 5+ backhand errors = 14% (59)
• Total = 418 errors

Combined Points Won
Combining error totals from both players shows that forehand errors in the 0-4 rally length dominate the landscape.

• 0-4 forehand errors = 34% (288)
• 0-4 backhand errors = 29% (252)
• 5+ forehand errors = 22% (187)
• 5+ backhand errors = 15% (131)
• Total = 858 errors

Early forehand errors in the rally occur at more than twice the rate (34% to 15%) as backhand errors in an established point of five shots or more. The large size of the forehand backswing versus the compact backhand backswing is the key. The bigger forehand backswing can be rushed. Contact can be compromised. Forehands simply don’t defend as well as backhands.

The modern backhand is built to survive. The modern forehand is built to attack. Therein lies opportunity. The ego of the forehand can be exploited.

Chinese star Zhang Zhizhen earned his first ATP Masters 1000 win on Thursday when he overcame Austrian qualifier Jurij Rodionov 7-6(6), 6-4 at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The 26-year-old, who is making his debut in Madrid, rallied from a break down in the first set and saved one set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break to move ahead. He then struck 12 winners in the second set and earned the decisive break in the fifth game to advance after one hour and 33 minutes.

With his first tour-level win of the season, Zhang has climbed four spots to No. 95 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. Last year, he became the first Chinese man to crack the world’s Top 100, before he reached a career-high No. 91 in February. Zhang will face Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the second round.

In other action, Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori earned the biggest win of his career, overcoming two-time Madrid champion Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6(7) to reach the second round.

Vavassaori serve and volleyed throughout the one-hour, 33-minute clash, winning 76 per cent (13/17) of net points. The 27-year-old squandered a break advantage in the second set, but held his nerve in the tie-break to earn his first ATP Masters 1000 win on his fifth match point.

“It is a dream come true,” Vavassori said. “To play at a tournament like this, in a court like this against a true champion like him. I have followed his whole career. He is a hero for everybody on the Tour. I think until the second half of the second set, I played the best tennis of my life. Then the nerves came in, but at the end, just joy.”

The 27-year-old, who is up 23 spots to No. 141 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will next face World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev. Vavassori’s biggest win prior to his victory against World No. 52 Murray was against then-World No. 59 Nicolas Jarry in Marrakech.

German lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff downed Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-1 to earn his fourth Top 50 clay-court win of the season. The World No. 65, who reached the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo earlier this month, next plays #NextGenATP American Ben Shelton.

_{^{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}
Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki defeated Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-3, while Cristian Garin overcame Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-6(5), 6-2. Pedro Cachin defeated Jordan wild card Abdullah Shelbayh 6-1, 6-4 and Marcos Giron moved past Nuno Borges 6-2, 7-6(7).

“It’s going to be way different from two years ago.”

Emil Ruusuvuori is aware of the improvements in World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz’s game since the pair’s sole previous ATP Head2Head meeting in 2021. That match in Miami is nonetheless a source of confidence for the Finn as he prepares to take on the defending champion, top seed and home favourite on Friday in the second round at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“It was a super tight match.” Ruusuvuori told ATPTour.com when asked about his memories of his 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win against Alcaraz in Florida two years ago. “I just remember at key moments I was able to play the best shots of the match and kind of take the energy from there and carry it on until the end of the match.”

What were the standout attributes of the 2021 version of Alcaraz, according to Ruusuvuori?

“His speed, overall. I think,” said Ruusuvuori. “From the body and from the shots he could hurt you with. Now, he can pretty much do anything from any court position he is in. He’s coming in [to the net] great, super-fast defence, and even the serve has improved. There’s not too much you can actually pick on. Overall, you just have to have the game solid, and at the best possible quality.”

The Finn found a way to overcome the Spaniard that day in Miami, and he will take to Manolo Santana Stadium on Friday full of confidence after some strong recent ATP Masters 1000 performances. Ruusuvuori won six matches in March across the ‘Sunshine Double’ of Indian Wells and Mami, a tally which included a run to his maiden Masters 1000 quarter-final at the latter.

“At the very beginning of the year I wasn’t playing the best tennis, but then in Indian Wells I started to pick it up,” said Ruusuvuori, who is now 14-11 for the year after downing Ugo Humbert in the Madrid first round on Wednesday. “I was able to just show the best that I can, and the results were coming.

“I was very close in Indian Wells against Zverev [in the third round] and in Miami I was very good, so for sure it gives that extra boost. Now I’m playing well here, and I get to go on centre court against Carlos, so it’s going to be a fun one I think.”

The World No. 41 Ruusuvuori possesses some of the cleanest groundstrokes, off both wings, on Tour. The 24-year-old hopes the faster conditions in Madrid compared to many other clay-court events on the circuit offer him an advantage as he attempts to upset the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz.

“I wasn’t able to practise on the court I played on today [against Humbert] and I was surprised at how fast it actually was,” said Ruusuvuori, who is playing in the main draw in the Spanish capital for the first time. “Serving was key. It was very difficult to return if the other guy was serving well.

“I think that’s something I have to try to do against Carlos. I mean, you have to do everything right, but especially serve. If you can get some free points, that is the key.”

Even if Ruusuvuori does bring his very best to the Caja Magica on Friday, however, he knows it will still be a tall order to become just the third player to beat Alcaraz in a tour-level match this season. For the Finn, that makes the occasion only more special.

“We know how much he has improved,” said Ruusuvuori, who picked up some more recent first-hand experience of Alcaraz’s level when the pair practised together during the 2022-23 offseason in Alicante. “He was around No. 100 [in 2021] and now he has been No. 1, won a Grand Slam and won pretty much everything already.

“So we know how much he has improved and how good of a player he is, but it’s going to be a nice one. I’ve never played on this centre court against probably the best player on the planet at the moment. I’m just going to go out there free and try to play the best tennis and enjoy this match. In the end, that’s why we are here.”

Dominic Thiem continued his impressive record at the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday when he moved past Briton Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-1 to set up a second-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The former World No. 3 has reached at least the semi-finals in four of his past five appearances in the Spanish capital and he looked in control throughout his first-round clash against Edmund.

Thiem struggled at the start of 2023, with his first-round defeat in Miami last month marking his ninth loss in 10 matches to that point in the season. However, he has begun to find form on the European clay, a surface he has won 10 of his 17 tour-level titles on.

Last month, the Austrian advanced to quarter-finals at ATP 250 clay-court events in Estoril and Munich, and reached the second round in Monte-Carlo to earn his first ATP Masters 1000 win since 2021. With his win against Edmund, he improved to 6-3 on the European clay-court season.

The Austrian won 86 per cent (24/28) of his first-serve points and remained strong under pressure, saving all four break points he faced to advance after 84 minutes and improve to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against the 28-year-old Edmund.

“It was not easy in the beginning. First match on the centre court and I was mainly practising outside, so it is a different feeling,” Thiem said. “I have known Kyle since we were juniors. He has been a tough opponent since the young days, so I went in with a lot of respect. I had some crucial moments in the first set when I saved the break points and then I released a little bit and it got better and better.”

Bringing the heat 🔥 off both sides!@domithiem numbers on the rise📈

Today vs Indian Wells;

🆙 2.7 mph avg. Fh speed to 78.3 mph
🆙 264 rpm avg. Fh Topspin to 3099 rpm#TennisInsights | @atptour | @MutuaMadridOpen pic.twitter.com/xlsfJ7UaCq

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) April 27, 2023

With his victory, Thiem improved to 17-7 at the clay-court tournament, while he has climbed two spots to No. 91 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

“I love this court, I have great memories and played some great matches here,” Thiem said. “Results wise this is my best [ATP] Masters 1000 tournament by far, so it is time to work on that reputation. Once I was a very tough guy to beat on clay and it is not the case right now, but I am feeling that I am getting better and back to shape.”

Thiem will next play fourth seed Tsitsipas. The Austrian leads the Greek 5-3 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“I am looking forward to that one a lot,” Thiem said when asked about facing Tsitsipas. “I like him a lot. He is an unbelievable player, I like watching his matches. He is very elegant. We’ve had some great matchups.”

In other action, Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry downed Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-0, while Roman Safiullin defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Etcheverry next meets Frances Tiafoe and Safiullin plays Tommy Paul.

Matteo Arnaldi will not soon forget his first ATP Masters 1000 win. The 22-year-old Italian saved a match point en route to a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) victory against Frenchman Benoit Paire on Wednesday in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open to earn a clash with third seed Casper Ruud.

The match featured several momentum changes. Paire served for victory at 5-4 in the third set, then trailed 1/5 in the tie-break before he earned match point at 6/5. But Arnaldi, who competed in last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals, remained calm to triumph after two hours in front of a raucous crowd on Court 6.

The recent Murcia ATP Challenger Tour champion saved the match point he faced when Paire, who had won five consecutive points, missed a return. Arnaldi then capitalised on his first match point at 7/6 when Paire served and volleyed. The Frenchman slid into a forehand drop volley, but missed it wide. The pair shared an extended hug at the net.

Arnaldi faced a Top 10 opponent for the first time earlier this year in Dubai, where eventual champion Daniil Medvedev eliminated the Italian straight sets. The 22-year-old will try to claim the biggest victory of his career against Ruud, who recently lifted his first trophy of the season in Estoril.

In other action, Oscar Otte ousted lucky loser Pavel Kotov 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The German, who is known for his aggressive game on grass, will try to translate that style to the Madrid clay against 18th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Another German advanced when Yannick Hanfmann battled past Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Hanfmann will try to level at 1-1 his ATP Head2Head with 15th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who stunned World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Monte-Carlo.

Did You Know?
Arnaldi successfully qualified for a Masters 1000 event for the first time this week. The 2022 Milan competitor defeated Filip Misolic and Arthur Fils en route to the main draw.