Winners of the week
Casper Ruud on Sunday kept his cool to clinch his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 triumph against Jack Draper at the Mutua Madrid Open.
After coming through a two-hour, 29-minute battle against Draper, Ruud became the first Norwegian to claim a Masters 1000 crown.
Ruud put on a scintilating display in the Spanish capital throughout the week, where he recorded three top-10 wins in the same event for only the second time in his career, downing world No. 4 Taylor Fritz, No. 10 Daniil Medvedev and No. 6 Draper en route to the title.
It was a much-needed turn of events for the strong Norwegian after an inconsistent start to 2025 by his own high standards, as Ruud dropped out of the top 10 just two weeks ago.
By improving to 21-6 for the season with his Madrid title run, however, he will on Monday climb eight spots to No. 7 in the ATP Rankings and overtake Scandinavian compatriot Holger Rune.
The win in Madrid was so much more impressive, judging from the fact that the Norwegian has been forced to seek help after struggling with mental health problems since the beginning of the season.
“I’ve been kind of feeling not great mentally this year,” said Ruud during a press conference in Madrid.
“It’s a tough life in many ways, and a lot of travel days, and it just got to a point where it felt like it was getting too much. But I sought help, and it’s been working, so I’m happy to feel more joy and feel like I’m in a better place."
Meanwhile, on the women's side, Aryna Sabalenka further consolidated her spot as world No. 1, when she equalled Petra Kvitova’s record three titles in Madrid by securing her 20th career title with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over USA’s Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday.
Her triumph in Madrid underlined her dominant start to the year in which she has reached four consecutive finals and won an impressive 31 matches, more than any other player on Tour. Sabalenka is just the second player to win Miami and Madrid in the same season after Serena Williams in 2013.
Elsewhere, former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka finally ended her barren spell without silverware when she collected the first WTA 125 title of her career on Sunday, defeating Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-1, 7-5 to win the L'Open 35 de Saint Malo title in Saint Malo, France.
Osaka has won four Grand Slam titles and three additional titles on the WTA Tour. But she had not won a singles title at any level since her most recent Grand Slam at the 2021 Australian Open. Since then, she has struggled to reach the same form as she has been suffering from anxiety and depression, while she also welcomed her first child in July 2023.
Rallies of the week
Jack Draper booked his ticket for the final in Madrid via a 6-3, 7-6 win over Lorenzo Musetti, but in this rally, the Italian showed his amazing repertoire on clay, when he, after being forced from side to side by Draper, rifles a forehand down the line.
I don't know if they had agreed on matching outfits before their clash in Madrid, but Jakub Mensik and Francisco Cerundolo delivered a cracking encounter in their quarter-final in the Spanish capital.
Cerundolo ended up winning the match, but Mensik had the better of the Argentinian in this rally with a superb backhand down the line, when Cerundolo otherwise looked to have won the point.
Strugglers of the week
Jasmine Paolini will hope that the Italian Open on home soil to start on Tuesday will mark a turnaround for her in a season that so far has failed to live up to expectations.
Paolini looked completely out of sorts when she lost 6-2, 6-1 to Greek Maria Sakkari, who ended a string of defeats against top-10 players (0-8), going back to last year’s French Open.
In 2024, Paolini was the French Open and Wimbledon runner-up, won doubles gold at the Paris Olympics and helped Italy lift the Billie Jean King Cup en route to becoming world number four. This season has been solid but less sparkling so far, and at the end of March, she sacked coach Renzo Furlan, who was otherwise crowned WTA Coach of the Year after a 10-year partnership.
Another top-10 seed who was forced to leave the Madrid Open earlier than expected was otherwise high-flying Jessica Pegula, who came crashing back to earth with a shocking 6-3, 6-2 loss to world No. 56 Moyuka Uchijima to prevent her from achieving a new career-high ranking of No. 2 in the world.
Going into the match, Uchijima had been 0-6 in matches against top-10 rivals, but clinched the biggest win of her career against the American, who will need to regroup and refocus before the journey to Foro Italico in Rome.
Moment of the week
Chaos broke out at the Madrid Open on April 28th, as Spain was plunged into darkness during one of the biggest blackouts in its history, leaving fans fumbling in their efforts to find the exit, while tennis stars were stuck in lifts forced to eat by candlelight.
The blackout struck around 12:32 PM, cutting power to 60% of the country in seconds, as hospitals, airports, highways and, of course, the courts at La Caja Magica were thrown into chaos.
Coco Gauff managed to wrap up her match against Belinda Bencic before the lights went out for good, but the American seemed to be visibly shaken when her post-match interview was suddenly interrupted as darkness descended on Madrid.
Upcoming events
This week in Rome, the third clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the season will feature the world's best players competing at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where home favourite Jannik Sinner will return to action after his three-month suspension.
This will also be Sinner's first competitive event since he defeated Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open final on January 26th. For now, Carlos Alcaraz is also in, but there are still doubts over the Spaniard’s fitness as he recently missed the Madrid Open due to a leg injury.
Alexander Zverev won the 2024 Internazionali BNL d'Italia singles title with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Nicolas Jarry, while Iga Swiatek defeated Sabalenka 6-2, 6-3 to win the women's title last year.