Competition at the Mutua Madrid Open will presumably resume on Tuesday following Monday’s power outage across Spain, Portugal, and some of France. Alexander Zverev faces Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round.
Here are my previews and picks for two of Tuesday’s best matchups.
(1) Alexander Zverev vs. (20) Francisco Cerundolo
Zverev and Cerundolo will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the second time this season when they meet again on Tuesday in Madrid. Cerundolo has won both of their previous contests–in straight sets at this same Madrid event in 2024 (also in the fourth round) and 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 a couple of months ago on the red clay of Buenos Aires.
Zverev should be able to turn the tide in this one. Although Cerundolo is playing extremely well this season, Zverev has regained his form following a February and March slump–plus he has been awesome in Madrid over the years. The stop-seeded German is coming off a clay-court title in Munich and he has extended his winning streak to seven matches with victories over Roberto Bautista Agut and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina so far this fortnight. He is now 25-5 lifetime at the Caja Magica with two titles.
Pick: Zverev in 2
(17) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (10) Lorenzo Musetti
Musetti and Tsitsipas have already gone head-to-head once during this European clay swing. The Italian basically had home-court advantage at the Monte-Carlo Masters, which he used to earn his first-ever win over Tsitsipas (1-6, 6-3, 6-4) decision. The Greek is still dominating the head-to-head series 5-1, with four of his wins coming on clay.
Tsitsipas was forced to retire from his quarterfinal match at last week’s ATP 500 Barcelona against Arthur Fils because of a back problem. However, the former French Open finalist did not look hampered during a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff on Saturday. Musetti beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(3), 6-2, improving to 13-5 for the year. Look for an in-form Tsitsipas to continue his mastery of this match and avenge his Monte-Carlo setback.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.