Struff stuns Tsitsipas in Madrid; Swiatek to face Sabalenka

Madrid:  Jan-Lennard Struff thought he was done at the Madrid Open when he lost to Aslan Karatsev in the final round of qualifying last week.

Then he got an unexpected spot in the tournament’s main draw as the so-called lucky loser and has really made it count, upsetting fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 on Thursday to set up another shot at Karatsev — this time in the semifinals.

The big-serving German is just the third lucky loser to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament.

Women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka both won their semifinals and will meet for the title on Saturday. It will be a rematch of the final in Stuttgart two weeks ago, when Swiatek won. It will be the first time the top two ranked players meet in a WTA 1000 final since then No. 1 Serena Williams beat second-ranked Li Na for the 2014 Miami Open title.

The 33-year-old Stuff gets a chance to avenge a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Karatsev in qualifying. He only made it into the main draw because another player withdrew.

Struff had lost only five service games in the main draw en route to the quarterfinals and relinquished only one against Tsitsipas on his way to victory in the Spanish capital.

The fifth-ranked Tsitsipas was coming off a final appearance at the Barcelona Open, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. He was a runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Madrid in 2019.

Defending champion Alcaraz faces 17th-seeded Borna Coric in the other semifinal.

Karatsev reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal after ending a strong run by Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (3), 6-4.

The veteran Russian saved all three breaks points he faced in the first set and converted his only opportunity in the second.

Karatsev has been ranked as high as 14th. In 2021, he became the first man on his Grand Slam debut to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

He became only the second qualifier to make the semifinals in Madrid.

Swiatek cruised past 12th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-1 to make it to her first final in Madrid and set up the rematch with Sabalenka, who advanced 6-4, 6-1 over Maria Sakkari.

Swiatek improved to 27-1 on clay since the start of last season. She will play in her seventh career WTA 1000 final, tying Caroline Wozniacki for the most appearances in the final at this level before turning 22 since the WTA 1000 events began in 2009.

The Australian Open champion is seeking her fifth WTA 1000 title and 13th career title overall.

It will be only the third time in the last 40 years that the top two ranked women’s players face each other twice on clay in a single season.