Matteo Arnaldi gained his first victory over a top-ten player on Friday as he upset third-seeded Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-4 in the third round of the Madrid Open.
Fifth seed Andrey Rublev continued his hot form on clay as he beat Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4. Carlos Alcaraz begins the defence of his title later in the day against Emil Ruusuvuorie while women’s number one Iga Swiatek faces Julia Grabher.
Arnaldi, a 22-year-old Italian ranked 105 in the world, who saved a match point against Benoit Paire in the first round, hit 35 winners on his way to a more comfortable victory over Norwegian Ruud, who reached two Grand Slam finals last year.
“The ball bounces so high and I didn’t like it at first. I struggled a bit,” Arnaldi said on court at the end. “But today, I don’t know, maybe the stadium, maybe the pressure on him, but I played the best match of my life.”
The Italian broke serve twice in the first set to take a 5-3 lead and close the set on his serve. —AFP
