Young Belgian Alexander Blockx eliminated defending champion Casper Ruud of Norway in the Madrid Masters 1000 quarterfinals on Thursday, winning 6-4, 6-4 in just over an hour and a half to reach the semifinals.
Blockx, 21 and ranked 69th in the world, will face the winner of Italian Flavio Cobolli and Germany’s Alexander Zverev for a place in the final. The other semifinal, set on Wednesday, pits world No. 1 Jannik Sinner against France’s Arthur Fils.
The Belgian’s run through the Caja Mágica draw has been a statement week. He had already accounted for Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo in the previous round, and earlier in the tournament took out Chile’s Cristian GarÃn, American Brandon Nakashima and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Madrid breakthrough builds on a strong stretch on European clay and indoors that included round-of-16 appearances at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 and in Munich.
Facing Ruud for the first time, Blockx was rock solid from the baseline. He broke the Norwegian to lead 5-4 in the opener and served out the set without trouble, dictating rallies with depth and refusing to be drawn forward.
Ruud, sensing he was being outhit from the back, came forward more often in the second set, looking to disrupt an opponent who was content to play several feet behind the baseline.
The tactic produced little. Both players held firmly on serve until the seventh game, when Blockx converted the last of three break points to move ahead 4-3, then consolidated for 5-3. Ruud saved two break points that were also match points in the ninth game, delaying the inevitable by a single game before the Belgian closed it out.
The defending champion’s title defense ends in the last eight. For Blockx, a maiden Masters 1000 semifinal awaits, with the chance to extend the most significant week of his young career.
