Wednesday in Madrid Sees Main Draw Action Begin
Wednesday in Madrid saw main draw action get underway, with the bottom half of the draw in action in the round of 128. With Madrid now a 12-day event and a 96-player draw, the early-round matches are often not super interesting, and there weren’t too many exciting prospects on the day one order of play. However, plenty of recognisable faces were in action, with Jack Draper vs Thanasi Kokkinakis producing one of the better matches of the day. Gael Monfils also made an early exit at the hands of Luciano Dardieri, who captured his first Master 1000 career win. Fabian Marozsan took out Aslan Karatsev, who had been playing his first match since knee surgery. The day ended with an epic match between Corentin Moutet and Jerry Shang, the pair toiling for almost 4 hours on the outside courts before the Chinese claimed a 6-7(9), 6-2, 7-6(10) victory. Check the highlights below.
Day One 2024 Madrid Open Round of 128 Results
| Winner | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Altmaier | Martín Landaluce (WC) | 6-1, 7-5 |
| Luca Darderi | Gaël Monfils | 6-4, 6-2 |
Seyboth Wild Sinks Safiullin
Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild defeated Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4 to set up an exciting round of 64 match with Lorenzo Musetti. Seyboth Wild is up to a career-high ranking of 63, and the Madrid conditions appear to suit his game. He used his forehand to completely dictate play against the Russian, who’s not had a great start to the year, suffering a disappointing loss to Bautista Agut in Barcelona and now crashing out here.
Draper Downs Kokkinakis
Jack Draper’s last three tournaments have ended with a 6-7 loss in the third, but he flipped the script in Madrid, taking out Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 3-6 7-5. The Brit has a heavy game, and his lefty serve did a lot of damage against Kokkinakis, who came through qualifying, defeating Thiem en route. It will be a pleasing win for the world number 43 after three tough losses in recent weeks, and he did well to regroup after Kokkinakis upped his game in the second. His serve during the third set was on point, and to convert his first match point, which negated the need for another final set tie break, it was clutch. Draper will meet Hubert Hurkacz in the next round, the Pole being one of the men to inflict a third-set tiebreak defeat on him in Monte Carlo a couple of weeks ago.
Shang Conquers Moutet in 4 Hours
Chinese teenager Shang Juncheng, nicknamed ‘Jerry’, clinched a thrilling victory against Corentin Moutet after nearly four hours of intense play. Moutet is no stranger to crazy matches with his unorthodox style of play often dragging players into the mire, but it was Shang who came through 6-7(9), 6-2, 7-6(10) win, setting up a second-round clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Madrid Open 2024 Day One Highlights
Madrid Open 2024 Day 2 Round of 128 Matches
- Darwin Blanch (WC) vs. Rafael Nadal (PR)
- Daniel Elahi Galán vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
