For the first time, a Russian reached the quarterfinals of the “thousander” in the capital of Spain
Our tennis players in Madrid pleased the fans by reaching the 1/8 final stage. The most striking match at this stage was expected from Medvedev.
Dani’s opponent was the flamboyant Alexander Bublik. The tennis player, who previously attracted attention due to his controversial behavior on the court, is now good at playing actions.
The spectators saw cool tennis, in which composure triumphed over emotions.
Great Expectations
For Medvedev, after a quick and unexpected departure from Khachanov to Monte Carlo, the “thousandth” in the capital of Spain is also not going well. Before meeting with the Kazakh, Danya lost one set in each match. At the same time, in yesterday’s game with Korda, everything could have ended unsuccessfully for the Russian, but the tiebreaker he won in the second set turned the tide of the meeting.
Bublik had a similar path in this sense: he also lost the first game to Shelton and won the second only in the decisive 13th game. Considering such situations, in 1/8 the public could see completely different faces. But it’s hardly possible to come up with a more interesting match.
Some of the most vocal players on the tour gave hope for another performance. True, Bublik has never beaten Medvedev in five meetings, but it is this season that Alexander shows his best tennis, climbing to 18th place in the ATP rankings. Promising.
Danya, on the contrary, plays unevenly, and now has a chance to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in Madrid – the only Masters where our player did not manage to get that far.
Unexpected ending
Knowing how poorly Medvedev sometimes starts matches, his opponent chose a technique. But, as it turned out, it was in vain. Bublik was unable to catch the serve of the fourth racket of the world, as, in fact, Dani was later unable to do so.
Only in the fifth game did break points appear. Moreover, our opponent’s player has three at once. On the second attempt with a reverse cross, Alexander realized the advantage and took the lead: 3:2. But, as happens quite often, the Russian immediately tried to regain what he had lost by imposing a fight on his opponent. Bublik comfortably led 40:15 on his serve, but failed to win the game. Medvedev promptly restored parity.
In general, the match has not yet looked like what many were expecting. Medvedev was silent in concentration, Bublik occasionally spoke to the stands, but was far from his usual manner. Only once, after losing a long rally, Sasha complained that it was impossible to run over Danya. Of course, Bublik used unprintable words.
The matter confidently reached a tiebreaker, where Bublik fell apart. The short shots with which Sasha tortured Danya now flew into the net. Medvedev also got used to the strong serve. The Kazakh lost the first six draws dry. Anyone in such a situation could panic, but Alexander, in his characteristic manner, decided to relax and served it with his hand. This gave the Kazakh strength for a while, and he won three draws. However, Medvedev’s advantage was too great, so the Russian brought the game to victory: 7:6 (7:3)
Believed in victory early
Bublik didn’t take a pause between games, although he should have. At least Sasha immediately lost his game and, naturally, got seriously worked up: he smashed his racket on the ground, complaining about his failure. This had an effect on Medvedev – Dani’s amazed look spoke for itself.
Perhaps it was partly relaxing, since in the second game our player gave his opponent a chance for a reverse break, which Alexander did not take advantage of. Then, instead of tennis, we saw a stand-up concert from a Kazakh.
Conversations with the audience, hand serves, malicious ridicule – there was all this in abundance:
“He just cooked me.” Usually I do this, but now he,” Bublik said directly to the camera with a smile on his face when the score was 0:4.
Alexander picked up two games with relaxed movements, but it was hard to believe in a real comeback. But in vain. Danya failed the eighth game, which should have been the last. The second break in the match revived the intrigue: 3:5. Then Bublik took his serve, but that was the end of the fight. Danya did not allow his emotions to come out and calmly finished the match: 7:6, 6:4.
Bublik received applause as he said goodbye to the Spanish public, and Medvedev reached the quarterfinals of Madrid for the first time in his career. Nadal or Legechka are ahead.
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Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
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On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
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(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
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Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
