{"id":14232,"date":"2026-04-29T18:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=14232"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:14:03","slug":"madrid-open-anastasia-potapova-becomes-first-lucky-loser-to-reach-wta-1000-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=14232","title":{"rendered":"Madrid Open: Anastasia Potapova becomes first lucky loser to reach WTA 1000 semi-final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Meanwhile, in the men&#8217;s tournament, world number one Sinner is through to the Madrid semi-finals for the first time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Italian beat 19-year-old home favourite Rafael Jodar 6-2 7-6 (7-0) in just shy of two hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He is bidding for his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title in a row, having won in Paris late last year and already secured the Indian Wells, Miami Open and Monte Carlo titles in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But the four-time Grand Slam champion was made to work in the quarter-final as Madrid-born Jodar showed why there are such high hopes for what he can achieve in the coming years, going toe-to-toe with Sinner in the second set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Tough challenge, I knew before the match that he was going to be very tough to beat, especially here, he&#8217;s from here and he knows exactly how to play in these conditions,&#8221; Sinner told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Sinner quickly took control, saving a break point when 2-1 down before reeling off five straight games to win the first set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The second was much more closely contested though, with Jodar earning break points at 3-2 and 4-3. But each time Sinner held firm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Jodar saved three break points himself to hold and go up 5-4 and held serve again to ensure at least a tiebreak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But Sinner showed his class, swiftly holding to love before putting on a masterclass in the breaker, winning it without dropping a point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve got a little bit more experience and in the second set got a little bit lucky at times with a couple of lines and net cords,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;But I tried to keep the level as high as I could&#8230; I&#8217;m happy with how I ended the match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;[Jodar] is an incredible player. Spain has one more incredible player so it&#8217;s great for the sport.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Sinner will face either France&#8217;s Arthur Fils or Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meanwhile, in the men&#8217;s tournament, world number one Sinner is through to the Madrid semi-finals for the first time. The Italian beat 19-year-old home favourite Rafael Jodar 6-2 7-6 (7-0) in just shy of two hours. He is bidding for his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title in a row, having won in Paris late last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}