Lucky loser Struff makes quarter-finals in Madrid

German lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff advanced to the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters by winning against Argentinian Pedro Cachin 7-6 (7), 6-7 (7), 6-3 at the Caja Magica on Tuesday evening.

Struff joins Daniel Altmaier in the quarter-finals, marking the first time that two lucky losers have progressed to the last eight in Madrid Open history, and the first time that two lucky losers have reached the quarter-finals of the same Masters 1000 event.

Struff, ranked No 65, will play the winner of the match between Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 4 seed, next.

Altmaier, who defeated Jaume Munar, 6-3, 6-0, will face 17th-seeded Borna Coric in the quarter-finals.

A lucky loser has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals at Madrid.

33-year-old Struff reaches his third Masters quarter-final and second of the clay season. He improves to 9-6 overall on the season.

The German hit eight aces and converted four of five break points against Cachin – he didn’t face a break point in the final set and converted two break points from two opportunities.

Ahead of his victory, the 33-year-old German beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego (6-3, 6-1), American Ben Shelton, the No 32 seed (4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5) and Serb Dusan Lajovic (6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3).

Cachin, ranked No 67, defeated Jordanian wildcard Abdullah Shelbayh (6-1, 6-4), No 24 seed Francisco Cerundolo (6-1, 7-6 (6)) and American Frances Tiafoe, the No 9 seed (6-1, 7-6 (2)) earlier in the tournament.

Madrid Masters, other last 16 results (Caja Magica, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas: tuesday
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Taylor Fritz (8): 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8)
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Alexander Zverev (13): 6-1, 6-2
• Borna Coric (17) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Aslan Karatsev (Q) beat Daniil Medvedev (2): 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier (LL) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 6-0
• Karen Khachanov (10) beat Andrey Rublev (5): 7-6 (8), 6-4

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