MADRID (AP) 鈥� wants better scheduling of matches at the Madrid Open, saying the night session 鈥渕esses up the whole day鈥� for players.
Sinner had a morning start on Tuesday and defeated Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 to earn his 20th straight win on tour and reach the quarterfinals of in the Spanish capital.
The world No. 1 said he was OK playing at whatever time he was scheduled, but the late matches 鈥� some of which have finished past 1 a.m. local time 鈥� were 鈥渘ot easy鈥� on the players’ 鈥渂ody and mind.鈥�
鈥淓ven if you have a day off, the fans they see only us on court, and then we finish at 1:15 (a.m.),” he said. “But then you have press conference, recovery, eating, treatment, you know, you don鈥檛 go to bed until 4 or 5. It messes up the whole day. So I think we can do better, definitely, in this point of view.鈥�
Sinner’s next opponent, , defeated fellow 19-year-old Jo茫o Fonseca at 1 a.m. on Monday. J贸dar then cruised past Vit Kopriva 7-5, 6-0 on Tuesday afternoon to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough when you schedule two matches starting from 8 (p.m.),” Sinner said. “You cannot pretend that matches are over in one and a half hours each, and at 11 (p.m.) the first game is over. When J贸dar played in the night it was very, very late, going on court around 11, finish around 1, 1:15. In my point of view that鈥檚 too late.鈥�
Sinner said it was 鈥渃ommon sense鈥� that he played at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and J贸dar started his match at 4 p.m. 鈥渂ecause he needs also a little bit more of rest.鈥�
The Sinner-J贸dar quarterfinal is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday at the Caja Magica.
Ruud vs. Tsitsipas thriller
saved two match points on his way to defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) in nearly three hours.
鈥淚 was on the brink of being on the way home already,鈥� Ruud said. 鈥淛ust really happy and proud of the way I fought back.鈥�
Rudd overcame the match points while serving at 3-5 in the decisive set to reach the quarterfinals. He had 12 break chances but converted only one of them the entire match. Tsitsipas converted one of his five break opportunities.
鈥淚 was frustrated about this,鈥� Ruud said. 鈥淚 knew I had many (chances). I had a couple of games with 0-40 and 15-40, and I felt like he served big at all of them. Well done by him, serving himself out of it.鈥�
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