Casper Ruud overturned a near-certain defeat to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a dramatic fourth-round match at the Madrid Open, prevailing 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). The defending champion only secured his first break on his 12th opportunity, doing so after Tsitsipas had pushed Ruud to the brink.

Ruud missed his first 11 break points, including a costly chance when Tsitsipas was serving at 1-2, 30-40. He described the moment bluntly: “Had somewhat of an easy sitter forehand. The plan was to go big cross and then I changed my mind just a split of a second before,” he recalled during his post-match interview with ATP Media. “I hesitated and went down the line, hit it on top of the net and not convinced at all. Those things you tend to remember unfortunately a bit too long.

“That was a key point for him and he broke me in the next game. Two tough games for me to swallow.”

Trailing 3-5 and facing two match points on his serve, Ruud produced a forehand winner to deny the first. Tsitsipas then sent a backhand return long on the second. Later, the former world No. 3 would not face another match point; he reached deuce at 5-4 after Ruud erased the 11th break point against him. An attempted serve-and-volley failed, bringing up ad out, and Tsitsipas faltered while catching his forehand late.

“Obviously you don’t hope for mistakes out of your opponent’s racquet, you want to see good tennis, But when you’re break points to stay in the match, you kind of hope that he will do something, unforced error. Luckily he did,” commented Ruud. “At 5-5, I said to myself, ‘This is why we train hard. This is why we love this sport, for these moments.’”

In the decisive tiebreak, Ruud charged back after a mini break, winning six consecutive points to close the match. When Tsitsipas netted a one-handed backhand to finish it, Ruud bent over and roared. “The return at 3-all in the tie-break is kind of what wins the match for me,” he would credit.

Tsitsipas later summed up the defeat with a “we’re so back” versus “it’s so over” meme he posted on X afterwards.

Rafa Jodar continued his breakthrough spring at the Mutua Madrid Open, reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Vit Kopriva. The 19-year-old’s run in Madrid is projected to move him inside the Top 40 for the first time and puts him within reach of a Grand Slam seed ahead of Roland Garros next month.

With the already-announced withdrawal of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Jodar would be one spot out from guaranteeing a seed with three weeks remaining before the Roland Garros draw is set. On court after his win over Kopriva he said, “I’m super happy with my level today, with my level at this tournament. “It’s always so special to play at home in front of many people you know and came to support you. So, I’m super happy to play another match tomorrow.”

Jodar has compiled a 16-3 record since the Miami Open, where he qualified and reached the third round. The Spanish teenager captured his first ATP title in Marrakech and reached his first ATP 500 semifinal in Barcelona prior to arriving in Madrid.

Entering Madrid as a wild card, Jodar upset No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur and No. 27 seed Joao Fonseca, the latter match extending late into the night as he advanced to the fourth round. Against Kopriva, from 5-5 in the first set he closed out the last eight games to seal the victory and a meeting with the top seed.

Jodar will face world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. “It’s an opportunity,” Jodar said. “You have to recover well, prepare well for the match the best way as possible and think about tomorrow because it’s going to be another tough match.” Sinner noted the challenge posed by Jodar’s late-night finish against Fonseca, a result that led organizers to give the top seed an 11 a.m. start. On Jodar, Sinner said, “Jodar is a very, very clean hitter, very easy power. You can hear with the sound, you know, when he touches it, and it’s a good sound coming from the racquet. He’s very, very talented. He’s going to be a great, great player in the future, and he’s already showing. I like the mentality, it’s quite calm. I don’t know him personally, but he seems very humble. So, yeah, he’s a very, very good player, and I wish him only the best.”

After more than three decades on tour and more than 8,000 matches officiated, Carlos Bernardes closed his umpiring career at the ATP Finals 2024 in Turin. Now based in Bergamo, the Brazilian has traded the chair for the organizer’s desk and is working as a tournament director on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Bernardes has been visible at events around Italy, including the Monza Open, where he described the atmosphere and his reason for being there. “My wife is working here as part of the official review team, and I had the chance to come as a visitor,” Bernardes explained about his presence in Monza. “I was here last year, and it was nice, but this year the organizers are doing an unbelievable job. The stands have been packed since Sunday when qualifying started. It’s great to see people coming out to watch tennis—not only the Italian players, but the sport in general.”

Earlier in the season he took on tournament duties in Cesenatico, a role that offered a fresh perspective. “It was very nice and interesting to see the side of the organizers. You have to interact a lot with the players. The team there did a very good job,” he said. “At that time of the year, there is usually nothing going on in that region. Many hotels are closed and the city feels like a ghost town. Because of the tournament, a lot of people came, and it was very successful. The mayor and the city representatives were very happy.”

He will continue in that capacity at the ATP Challenger in Cervia in May, where outdoor conditions and longer days should draw more fans. Bernardes has also encountered operational challenges, noting players’ unfamiliarity with tournament procedures. “Some players don’t really know the rules, especially those coming from lower-level events. They don’t always read the fact sheet, like deadlines for hotel reservations. I had quite a few conversations about that,” he said.

Bernardes says what he misses most is the people, not the act of umpiring. “Not the umpiring itself,” he said with a laugh, “but the people. I met some colleagues here that I haven’t seen in more than 10 years. That’s really nice.”

For many of today’s umpires, I was a kind of teacher at some point. It’s like a second family, Carlos Bernardes

He reflected on how the game has evolved and on the impact of new technologies. “This is not only about sport, but it also affects every day life,” Bernardes explained. “With artificial intelligence and automated systems, things are different now. Umpires don’t have the same communication with players about decisions anymore. Their role is more about explaining what’s happening to the crowd or on TV. It’s completely different from when we started.”