Alcaraz, Djokovic placed in same half of Madrid Open draw

Madrid, April 21 (IANS) The stage is set for a thrilling action of the Madrid Open 2025, the ATP Masters 1000 event, as two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic find themselves on a collision course in the same half of the draw, which took place on Monday.

Alcaraz arrives in Madrid riding a wave of momentum. The Spaniard, seeded second, claimed the Monte-Carlo title and reached the final in Barcelona earlier this month. Looking to make it a hat-trick of titles in the Spanish capital after back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023, Alcaraz will open against either Yoshihito Nishioka or Zizou Bergs.

He could meet last year’s semi-finalist Jiri Lehecka in the third round, followed by a potential clash with Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth. The quarter-finals may pit him against sixth seed Alex de Minaur, 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti or 17th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas as per the ATP.

Djokovic, seeded to face Alcaraz in the semi-finals, begins his campaign against Matteo Arnaldi or a qualifier. The Serbian legend, hunting his 100th career title, holds a 5-3 advantage over Alcaraz in their ATP head-to-head series. Djokovic is a three-time champion in Madrid and could run into Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round, with Indian Wells winner Jack Draper a potential quarter-final foe.

In the top half, recent Munich champion Alexander Zverev opens against either Roberto Bautista Agut or Jaume Munar. The German, now No. 2 in the ATP Rankings, could face Arthur Fils in the fourth round and one of Ben Shelton or Andrey Rublev in the quarters. Miami champ Jakub Mensik also lurks in Rublev’s section.

Meanwhile, Holger Rune begins against Flavio Cobolli or Fabian Marozsan and is on track to face Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round. Taylor Fritz, seeded third and returning from a Miami semi-final, could meet Rune in the quarter-finals. Rising Brazilian star Joao Fonseca starts his campaign against a qualifier and could face Tommy Paul next.

--IANS

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