Thursday night matches of the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament played on clay in Madrid yielded surprising results. abandoned, among others Andy Murray who lost against qualifiers Andrea Vavassori, Marton Fucsovics and Lorenzo Sonego.

Although Andy Murray may not be in the form he was in the 2008 and 2015 seasons when he won the ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid, he certainly did not think in his worst dreams that his performance during the this year’s event would be so unsuccessful. The Briton was eliminated in the first round. On Thursday, he lost 6-2, 6-7(7) to 164th-qualified Andrea Vavassori.

“Playing in a tournament like this, on a court like this and against a champion like this, is like a dream come true. Halfway through the second set, I was playing the best tennis of my life. Then there was nervousness, but in the end there was joy – said, quoted by atptour.com, 27-year-old Vavassori, who will face second seed Danił Medvedev in 1/32 of final.

Thursday evening’s matches brought other surprises, created by tennis players from the qualifiers. Another Italian, Marco Cecchinato, won 7-6(4), 6-3 over Marton Fucsovics and will play number 16 Alex de Minaur in the second round.

Aslan Karacew, after a battle of two sets and two hours, proved better than Laslo Djere, and he will fight for the third round with Botik van de Zandschulp, seeded number 23. Jan-Lennard Struff, the “lucky loser” of the qualifying round, beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-1. The German’s next rival will be number 32 Ben Shelton.

Dusan Lajović, last week’s champion from Banja Luka, beat Jason Kubler to earn a second-round opportunity with seventh-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. However, Filip Krajinovic failed to match Christopher O’Connell. The Australian in the 1/32 final will face Taylor Fritz, the “eight” of the tournament.

At the end of the day, local fans had reason to be happy. Bernabe Zapata defeated Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) after almost two hours and 40 minutes of competition. In the second round, the Spaniard will face 19th seed Daniel Evans. In the 1/32 final, there is also Marcos Giron, who won with Nuno Borges and will now play with the marked “25” Sebastian Baez.

Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid (Spain)
ATP Masters 1000, clay, €7.705 million prize pool
Thursday April 27

1st singles round:

Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) v Jason Kubler (AUS) 6-3, 6-3
Bernabe Zapata Miralles (Spain) v Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)
Marcos Giron (USA) – Nuno Borges (Portugal) 6-2, 7-6(7)
Christopher O’Connell (Australia) v Filip Krajinovic (Serbia) 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-2
Marco Cecchinato (Italy, Q) – Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) 7-6(4), 6-3
Aslan Karatsev (Q) – Laslo Djere (Serbia) 7-6(5), 7-5
Andrea Vavassori (Italy, Q) v Andy Murray (UK) 6-2, 7-6(7)
Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany, LL) v Lorenzo Sonego (Italy) 6-3, 6-1

free prizes: Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 1); Daniil Medvedev (2); Casper Ruud (Norway, 3); Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece, 4); Andrei Rublev (5); Holger Rune (Denmark, 6); Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada, 7); Taylor Fritz (USA, 8); Frances Tiafoe (USA, 9); Karen Khachanov (10); Cameron Norrie (UK, 11); Hubert Hurkacz (Poland, 12); Alexander Zverev (Germany, 13); Tommy Paul (USA, 14); Lorenzo Musetti (Italy, 15); Alex de Minaur (Australia, 16); Borna Coric (Croatia, 17); Pablo Carreno (Spain, 18); Daniel Evans (UK, 19); Roberto Bautista (Spain, 20); Denis Shapovalov (Canada, 21); Sebastian Korda (USA, 22); Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands, 23); Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina, 24); Sebastian Baez (Argentina, 25); Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 26); Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia, 27); Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan, 28); Alejandro Davidovitch Fokina (Spain, 29); Tallon Griekspoor (Netherlands, 30); Jiri Lehecka (Czech Republic, 31); Ben Shelton (USA, 32)

Schedule and results of the men’s tournament

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