Madrid Open has always been an interesting tournament as we have witnessed some of the finest and nail-biting matches in the tournament’s history. So, after the completion of the 20th edition of the tournament here are the top 5 most memorable matches of the Madrid Open.
#5 Serena Williams Vs Victoria Azarenka
Serena Williams was in great form in 2015. Before the Madrid Open of 2015, she was already crowned the winner of the Australian Open and it was her first tournament on clay courts. In her round of 16 matches, she met Victoria Azarenka and it was a great match between the two of them which ended in Williams favour as she won the match by 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(1).
#4 Roger Federer Vs Feliciano Lopez
Back in 2011, it was the second round of the Madrid Open where Swiss legend Roger Federer and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez met each other.
Lopez has never won a game against Federer in their 13 times meetings and it was this time when he came the closest to giving an upset to 20-time grand slam champion, Roger Federer. But Federer being a world-class player never gave up and won the match by 7-6(13), 6-7(1), 7-6(7).
#3 Simona Halep Vs Maria Sharapova
The 2013 campaign of the Madrid Open did not bring the trophy for Maria Sharapova but she returned in 2014 and in the final match against Romania’s Simona Halep she got what she missed in 2013.
Maria lost the first set badly but she made a promising comeback in the other two sets and won the game by 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Later on, they both met each other in French Open’s final where the result was the same and Maria Sharapova won the title.
#2 Rafael Nadal Vs Ivan Ljubicic
The greatest final of the Madrid Open’s history was in 2005 between Spanish legend Rafael Nadal and Croatian star Ivan Ljubicic. Nadal who was the crowd’s favourite lost the first two sets by 3-6 and 2-6 but Nadal made a brilliant comeback and won the match and also his first-ever Madrid Open title.
His comeback was started in the fourth set where he took the match to the fifth set and defeated Ljubicic in a tiebreaker round.
#1 Novak Djokovic Vs Rafael Nadal
Two of the modern-day greats who were not so great in 2009 but still managed to give us the longest match of ATP masters 1000 which was the semi-final of the 2009 Madrid Open which was four hours and three minutes long.
Spanish legend Rafael Nadal who was also the crowd’s favourite defeated Serbian legend, Novak Djokovic, after losing the first set. Nadal again proved himself on the clay courts where he made a promising comeback and won the game by 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9).
