Rafael Nadal once again showcased his legendary fighting spirit to bounce back from the brink of both victory and defeat Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open. After David Goffin saved two match points in the second set, Nadal erased four for his opponent in a decisive tie-break to advance by the finest of margins, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(9), in three hours and nine minutes.

One night after he was in the stands for Real Madrid’s great escape in the Champions League semi-finals, Nadal performed his own bit of magic at the Caja Magica. It has been a 24 hours to remember for Spanish supporters, with the 35-year-old home favourite getting the Manolo Santana Stadium rocking like Madrid’s Santago Bernabeu Stadium, sending fans from stunned silence to delirium in a matter of moments.

“It was an unforgettable night. The spirit that the Real Madrid team has is just incredible,” Nadal said after his victory. “For me today, in some ways it has been an inspiration in the way I have been fighting all my tennis career.

“Honestly, it was a very tough match. I think I played at a very high level. But at the same time I am not completely happy because I have to finish the match in straight sets, without a doubt.”

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Nadal saved two of Goffin’s four match points with drop shots, and a third when the Belgian netted a short forehand from an attacking position. By winning the decider, Nadal extended his perfect Madrid tie-break record to 10-0 since the event moved to clay in 2009. He also prevented Goffin from becoming the fourth man to beat him from match point down on clay, with the last instance coming in Buenos Aires in 2016 against Dominic Thiem.

“Three hours and 10 [minutes] on court, that helps to increase my physical performance,” Nadal added. “A very important victory, saving match points. That’s confidence, that gives me the chance to keep going. I need matches and I need a day like to day to be fitter sooner.”

After coming through a rocky opening set, Nadal redlined early in the second and looked on course for a straightforward victory in Manolo Santana Stadium. But as the Spaniard’s game dipped slightly at closing time, Goffin played some of his best tennis of the match to extend the contest, winning four straight games from 3-5.

The tense final set seemed destined for a tie-break, and the drama only increased in a frantic finish. Nadal was left standing when Goffin went wide on the Spaniard’s fourth match point — and second of the tie-break.

More than three hours earlier, Nadal took the court seeking a record-tying 37th ATP Masters 1000 title but quickly found himself down an early break in Manolo Santana Stadium. But from 2-3, he managed to win the final four games of the opening set in spite of some uncharacteristic errors.

Nadal took command of the match with a pristine eight-point stretch to start set two. After Goffin battled through deuce to hold in the opening game, Nadal found a new level to hold then break at love. The Spaniard began to attack with more pop and precision on his groundstrokes, firing winners off both wings as he began is ascent. The first real signal of intent came on a lasered down-the-line backhand which helped him get on the board in the stanza.

The third seed was cruising on serve in the second until three loose errors gave Goffin a look at 4-5. The Belgian took full advantage to force a decider, but could not get over the line against Nadal, who advanced to a record-extending 99th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final and a 16th in Madrid. 

Nadal has now done his part to set up an all-Spanish quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz, who will follow him on the stadium court against ninth seed Cameron Norrie. Nadal beat his countryman in the Madrid second round last year before making it 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head with a three-set win in the Indian Wells semi-finals.

Nadal is also undefeated against Norrie at 4-0, including a straight-sets win in the Acapulco final in February.

ATP has announced Pepperstone, the award-winning Melbourne-based FX and CFD broker, as the global naming partner of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and Official Online Trading Partner of the ATP Tour.

The agreement sees Pepperstone join the Tour as Platinum Partner with a global on-site presence at 11 events across the ATP Tour season, culminating at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Pepperstone will also receive year-round promotion via ATP’s social, digital and broadcast channels, delivering worldwide exposure to the brand and its innovative trading products.

The partnership kicks off today with the launch of a brand-new product — the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings — a dynamic new feature enabling fans, players and media to track the real-time rankings and impact of match results day-to-day. The partnership launches ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2023.

First launched in August 1973, the Pepperstone ATP Rankings serve as a true measure of excellence and the official mechanism determining player standings, tournament entries and seedings in men’s professional tennis. A key barometer for player records and milestones, the Pepperstone ATP Rankings also provide a narrative that connects every level of the men’s professional game throughout the season.

In addition to the Rankings, Pepperstone also becomes the naming partner of the season-long Race To Turin, Race To Milan, the ATP Cup Standings, as well as presenting partner of the official year-end No.1 ceremonies in singles and doubles.

Massimo Calvelli, ATP CEO, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Pepperstone to our family of global partners and to celebrate the moment with the launch of the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. In line with Pepperstone’s award-winning customer service, the ATP is always looking for new ways to improve the experience of our millions of fans around the world, and the launch of the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings is a landmark moment that will help elevate our storytelling and create new opportunities to engage with the ATP Tour every day of the season.”

Tamas Szabo, Pepperstone Group CEO, said: “We are tremendously excited to enter into this ground-breaking partnership, becoming the first and Official Online Trading Partner of the ATP Tour. Tennis and trading have a few things in common – preparation, access to information, experience and ultimately the right decision at critical moments.

“ATP Tour’s global footprint and enormous following will enable us to bring the world’s financial markets to astute, adventurous traders around the world, driving our vision to create a better way to trade.”

Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings will link match-by-match results to projected positional moves in the traditional Pepperstone ATP Rankings, immediately contextualising what a big victory – or defeat – means to a player’s standing relative to his rivals.

Updated following the completion of each match, Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings reflect real-time points added and dropped by players, who will dynamically rise and fall based on their most recent result. Fans and media will no longer have to wait until the weekly Pepperstone ATP Rankings are run to understand the impact of matches won and lost.

Pepperstone ATP Rankings will continue to be used for tournament entry and seedings and to recognise achievements and milestones with historical context. For example, a player must spend at least one week at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings to be considered a World No. 1.

The introduction of the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings marks the most significant addition to the ATP’s Rankings properties since the 2000 introduction of the calendar-year Race, helping track players’ journeys to qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. It comes as part of a wider push to enhance functionality of the ATP Tour’s digital platforms, and continually level-up the fan experience across the tennis ecosystem. Visit Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. To learn more about how they work, visit our FAQ page.

Stefanos Tsitsipas showed why he is one of the men to beat on the European clay with an assured start to his Mutua Madrid Open campaign on Wednesday evening. The Greek improved to 8-1 on the surface this season with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over French wild card Lucas Pouille. With the win, he became the first man to record 25 ATP Tour match wins on the year.

“It was good magic, a fair amount of magic dust,” Tsitsipas said of his victory at the Caja Magica. “A great start at the beginning of this tournament.”

The fourth seed faced just one break point on the night, when he surrendered serve in between a pair of breaks in an eventful middle period of the opening set. He left no doubt in set two, following an early break with a love hold to open up a decisive advantage.

Outside of the game in which Pouille broke at love, Tsitsipas dominated on serve. He won 94 per cent (31/33) of his first deliveries, including seven aces, with the last one coming on match point.

Tsitsipas also owned the Balance of Power battle on Manolo Santana Stadium, playing 30% of his shots in attack compared to 22% for his opponent. (Learn more about Balance of Power.)

Pouille, who broke into the Top 10 in 2018, entered the match in good form after a straight-sets win over Karen Khachanov. But Tsitsipas proved to be on a different level in the one-hour, eight-minute contest. The World No. 174 Frenchman was seeking to equal the best win of his career by ATP Ranking against the World No. 5.

Tsitsipas, who is 31-6 on clay since the start of 2021 with three titles in five finals, advances to face Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16. The Bulgarian was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Diego Schwartzman earlier on Wednesday.

Speaking about that impeccable clay-court record, Tsitsipas explained that he prefers to keep his focus on the present: “I don’t really think about this stuff, to be honest with you,” he said.

“I’ve had good runs in the past. I’ve played well on this surface but every single day is a different challenge. Everyone wants to go out there and play the best they can against me, so I’m just going to try to play consistently as much as I can.”

Spanish doubles star Marc Lopez played the final match of his storied career on Wednesday in front of his home fans at the Caja Magica.

Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, who lead the ATP Doubles Team Rankings, defeated Lopez and countryman Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 to reach the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open. The Dutch-British tandem is 25-7 on the season and chasing a fourth title of 2022.

^{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}
Koolhof and Skupski will next play Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic, who upset fourth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-6. 

Lopez finishes his career with 14 tour-level doubles titles and a 310-245 record. The 39-year-old earlier this year became a member of close friend Rafal Nadal’s coaching team. Nadal had high praise for Lopez on Wednesday.

“We know Marc has a unique talent. This is a reality, and he has worked for it,” Nadal said. “All the merit to him, all the merit to what has happened to him for different reasons. First of all because he’s a very good person, above anything else.

“It’s always good that good things happen to good people. He’s a good person. In that regard, I think that he has achieved things that no other people had achieved in doubles in this country.”

In other doubles action, Miami champions Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner ousted fellow singles stars Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4. They will next face top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury or two-time Roland Garros titlists Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus also advanced to the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Cameron Norrie and Tommy Paul. Murray typically partners Bruno Soares and Venus plays alongside Tim Puetz.

Italian Jannik Sinner earned his 100th tour-level win Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open, downing Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1 to reach the third round.

The 20-year-old claimed his maiden tour-level victory in April 2019, defeating Mate Valkusz in Budapest. Since then, he has captured the 2019 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals crown, five ATP Tour titles and cracked the Top 10.

It has been a remarkable rise for the World No. 12, who moved past de Minaur in 74 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.

“I have gone my own way. I remember the first win and now I am here at 100 wins. I hope for more as I am working for that and I just love to play tennis,” Sinner told ATPTour.com. “Every match you win is a great moment.

“When you win a tournament, it is very special. The first tournament I won in Sofia was very special. Also Next Gen and in Washington, winning an ATP 500 was special. There are also specific matches that are very special and I can be proud of myself. But I will work harder every day.”

The 10th seed now leads the 23-year-old de Minaur 4-0 in their ATP Head2Head series and has improved to 20-5 on the season. He will next play Rotterdam champ Felix Auger-Aliassime or Chilean Cristian Garin.

Earlier this year, Sinner advanced to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, Dubai, Miami and Monte Carlo.

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In a battle between two 2021 Intesa Next Gen ATP Finals competitors, Lorenzo Musetti moved past Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-3 to ensure it was a strong day for Italy.

The 20-year-old, who is making his debut in Madrid, broke the American five times to advance after one hour and 36 minutes. Musetti now leads Korda 2-1 in their ATP Head2Head series, having also defeated the 21-year-old en route to the semi-finals on clay in Lyon last year.

_{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}

The qualifier will next meet World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, who is the reigning Madrid champion.

Musetti has improved to 8-3 on the season on clay after also reaching the last 16 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last month. The World No. 63 defeated Top 10 star Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round in the Principality for the biggest win of his year by ATP Ranking.

The road back from injury in professional sport can be a long, tiring and frustrating journey. Just ask former World No. 7 David Goffin.

The past 12 months have been the toughest the Belgian has faced since he made his ATP Tour debut in 2011 after he was forced to end his 2021 season in August due to a knee injury.

Last month Goffin returned to the winners’ circle in Marrakech, capturing his sixth tour-level title at the ATP 250 clay-court event. It was a major moment for the 31-year-old, who had doubted his future just weeks earlier.

“Winning Marrakech meant a lot. I have had tough moments for the past year,” Goffin told ATPTour.com. “First with my knee. I had to end my season in August and then the beginning of this year I was struggling with my game. My knee troubled me in Sydney, I had to pull out of my match against [Andy] Murray. There were a lot of things in my head. ‘Would my knee ever be the same? Is it affecting my footwork? Am I slower?’ I wondered if I would ever be the same again.

“Every day you have different feelings in your head. One day you have a great session and you are feeling good and then the next day you feel tired and are not feeling the ball well. You think you are slow. One day you panic and then you feel strong and feel you will be back soon. It takes time and you have to trust the process and that was the hardest part. You have to believe in your team.”

When Goffin, who was out from August 2021 – January 2022, arrived in Marrakech at the start of April, he was No. 74 in the ATP Rankings. It was his lowest position since he was World No. 78 in July 2014.

Since defeating Slovakian Alex Molcan in the final, the Belgian has continued to flourish. He advanced to the third round at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and has come through qualifying at the Mutua Madrid Open this week, with World No. 4 Rafael Nadal awaiting in the third round.

Goffin has felt his upturn in form coming since he left Australia in January.

“After Sydney I began to feel more confident in practice and at the gym sessions and I was like ‘OK, I am feeling great’,” Goffin said. “Then I started to play some good tennis and the confidence came back, match after match.

“Then the clay arrived and every year when the clay swing arrives, it is always a good and important period for me. In Marrakech, I won one battle and then another and then the confidence grows. Winning a title meant a lot after that tough period.”

The 2017 Nitto ATP Finals finalist revealed that a crucial factor behind his strong results has been regaining trust in his body, which had been wiped away in 2021.

“When I was playing in Australia, I didn’t dare go on my knee,” Goffin revealed. “Then your groundstrokes are not the same and you worry if it is you or the knee. Then when you commit more the groundstrokes are better, you move better and then you are like ‘Yes, it was my knee’. Then you get confidence that you are not done, and it will get better.”

While his time away from competitive action was frustrating, Goffin enjoyed a life-changing moment that understandably helped boost his spirits.

“I had time to get married,” Goffin said, beaming with a smile. “I had a honeymoon and time to travel a little bit. It was good to have time to do things you may not normally have time for. Mentally the pause was good for my head.”

Throughout his career, Goffin has produced some of his best tennis on clay, advancing to the semi-finals in Monte Carlo in 2016 and the last eight at ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid in 2017 and in Rome in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

It is a period of the season the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals finalist relishes as he reflects on the different tournament stops on the ATP Tour.

“Marrakech was the first time I played and I won, so it will be a good tournament for the rest of my career,” Goffin said. “Monaco is where I live, so it is really nice to play matches there. The centre court in Monte Carlo with the sea behind is one of the most beautiful courts.

“Madrid is quite special. It is the first time I have played qualifying in about 10 years I think. It is different because of the altitude and the courts are really fast. It can also be completely indoor on three courts when it is raining, so it is a little bit different. “

With confidence restored and Goffin back inside the Top 60, he is looking to put his injury woes firmly in the back mirror and drive on to more success in the upcoming period.

“When I started the season I wanted to be ready for the clay and grass. It is the best period for me,” Goffin said. “From April to July that was the main goal to be ready and I am. I am feeling fit and have won matches. I will now try and stay fit. It is good I have had a lot of matches and the confidence is growing.”

Rafael Nadal revealed that he was delighted with his opening-round win against Miomir Kecmanovic following his return to the ATP Tour. However, he once again stressed the need for patience as he looks to build up his fitness at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The Spaniard overcame the Serbian 6-1, 7-6(4) on Manolo Santana Stadium in his first match since he suffered a rib injury in March.

“I leave the match very, very happy,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference. “You have to be sincere with yourself whenever you can. You have to be truthful to yourself. My preparation has not existed. You cannot expect great things at the beginning, because before coming here, first day training was last Thursday. I have trained very, very little.

“I had trained one day, and all training has had some up-and-downs. It’s been a rollercoaster. I have had better days, worse days. It’s logical. I think that yesterday I started to feel a little bit better, and today also in the pre warmup I was feeling well. I think that in general I have played a good match.”

The World No. 4 has performed well when returning from injury setbacks in recent years, with his triumph at the Australian Open in January a perfect example. Nadal missed the second half of 2021 with a foot injury, but made a winning return in Australia, clinching the Melbourne Summer Set title before he earned a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam crown at the Aussie Open.

The 35-year-old feels that his second-round win in Madrid is a crucial step in the right direction as he aims to build momentum once again.

“Today I was able to play one hour [and] 55 minutes against an opponent that was playing really well in these past months, so [it is] a really good victory,” Nadal said. “A lot of value to it. One hour [and] 55 minutes on court helps me a lot to reach my final goal, which is to recover my previous health and previous fitness. I’m very excited about it.

“If you come back and if you win the first matches, then you’re able to get your rhythm back again. Whereas if you come back and you lose and you lose, you end up in a circle of losing that you don’t get the rhythm of matches. So the first matches are key. They have a really big value, and for me today’s victory is really important for that reason.”

Nadal will be aiming to win his sixth title in Madrid this week and next faces Belgian David Goffin. The 91-time tour-level champion is grateful for the opportunity to play on home soil once again in the Spanish capital.

“Playing in Spain is something really, really important, and here in Madrid, the support and love of the people it’s always been unconditional,” Nadal said. “I am conscious of my age that I don’t know how many more times I’m going to be able to have the opportunity to play here in front of these people, so I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible.”