Rafael Jodar earned the biggest win of his career at the Madrid Open (Image: Tennis TV)
It was a night to remember for Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, who claimed the biggest win of his young career on home turf at the Madrid Open and then pointed his finger in the air, pumping his fists and yelling “vamos”. The 19-year-old has been making waves on the tour of late. He recently won his first title in Marrakech and followed it up with a semi-final showing at the ATP 500 event in Barcelona.
Now, at the Madrid Open, on the Manolo Santana Stadium, he’s caused one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far and beaten a top-10 player for the very first time. The teenager absolutely blew away fifth seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-1 in just 75 minutes, and looked cool and collected doing it.
Madrid-born Jodar is making his debut at his home tournament as a wildcard this week. In his opening match on Wednesday evening, the world No. 42 had to battle back to beat Jesper de Jong 2-6 7-5 6-4 in two and a half hours.
But facing a top-10 opponent for just the second time in his career, Jodar looked dialled in from the word go as he headlines the night session slot on the biggest showcourt at the Madrid Open on Friday.
Jodar broke the De Minaur serve immediately. And when the fifth seed broke back, the teenager wasn’t worried. He simply broke to regain his advantage. The wildcard wrapped up the first set in a little over half an hour, and then absolutely hurtled through set two.
The world No. 8 didn’t hold serve at all in set two, his lone game being a break of the Jodar serve. And commentators were taken aback by the nature of his big win. “He has taken apart Alex de Minaur in his home city. What a remarkable impression this young man is making. Devastating,” Nick Lester said.
Arvind Parmar added: “Just chewed up the fifth seed this week as if it was nothing. That was special from Jodar.”
No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur lost his opening match and only took four games off Rafael Jodar (Image: Getty)
Jodar soaked in the applause from the packed crowd. Just a few years ago, the Spaniard used to sit in the same stands and watch other players. Now, he’s made a statement on a court so dear to him.
“It was crazy. Crazy feelings. I’m super happy to get my second win here in Madrid at my home tournament, where I used to come when I was a kid, and I used to watch all these top players in the stands. Now, being able to play here in the centre court means a lot to me,” the teenager said.
“I think the first match really helped me to get used to the conditions. It was a bit different, these conditions, from the conditions I was playing last week in Barcelona. Totally different conditions, so I think I did a great job trying to handle playing very good in important points and the pressure moments in this match.”
Jodar will now face another teenage sensation, 19-year-old Joao Fonseca, for a place in the last 16. The Spaniard reached the third round of a Masters 1000 event for the first time last month in Miami, and he’s already matched that here at the Caja Magica.
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