It is Day Nine of the Madrid Open with the Last 16 in the ATP and Quarter-Finals in WTA set to begin at Caja Magica.
Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev who are close friends off the court will contest the first Last 16 tie on Manolo Santana starting at 11am local time.
It is currently 2-2 between the pair with Rublev winning the last two including their last clay court meeting only last month in Monte-Carlo.
Then it is the turn of another potential giant killing to the charge of Aryna Sabalenka the second seed as she faces Egyptian, Mayar Sherif after taking down 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva yesterday.
Sherif has seen off Elise Mertens, Caroline Garcia, Anhelina Kalinina, and Camila Giorgi so far and will aim to add another seed to that list.
The big game of the day is Carlos Alcaraz who will continue his title defence, he takes on Alexander Zverev who is starting to head back towards some of his best tennis since his return.
Alcaraz has won only one of four meetings with Zverev, with the German beating him at Roland Garros last year.
Maria Sakkari follows on with the Greek Spartan set to do battle with Irina-Camelia Begu who similar to Sherif has become one of the stories of the tournament albeit with past history reaching multiple Quarter-Finals in Madrid.
While after some time in a downturn, Sakkari will look to find her best tennis again. She showed some of it against Paula Badosa.
But in Begu, it represents a tricky test in a game she is expected to win which sometimes can prove the Achilles heel.
Finally Stefanos Tsitsipas plays again after his thriller against Sebastian Baez with Bernabe Zapata Miralles next up. Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina all will play on the second court Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.
Tuesday, May 02, 2023
Day 9
MANOLO SANTANA STADIUM Starts At 11:00 Am
R16 Karen Khachanov VS Andrey Rublev
Not Before 1:00 PM
Mayar Sherif VS Aryna Sabalenka
Not Before 4:00 Pm
R16 Carlos Alcaraz VS Alexander Zverev
Not Before 8:00 PM
Maria Sakkari VS Irina-Camelia Begu
Followed By
R16 Bernabe Zapata Miralles VS Stefanos Tsitsipas
ARANTXA SANCHEZ STADIUM Starts At 11:00 Am
R16 Jaume Munar VS Daniel Altmaier
Followed By
R16 Aslan Karatsev VS Daniil Medvedev
Followed By
R16 Borna Coric VS Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Followed By
R16 Taylor Fritz VS Zhizhen Zhang
Followed By
R16 Jan-Lennard Struff VS Pedro Cachin