In a day of big shocks and big clashes, a day when two top-four fathers-to-be, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, left gaps in both halves of the draw, and a day of hot tempers and cool heads, it was time for fresh blood to seize the day.
Two 26-year-olds new to the top 50 overturned one-set deficits to beat two over-30 former top-10ers: Roberto Bautista Agut against Fernando Verdasco, and Igor Sijsling against Tommy Haas.
Two other ‘veterans’ faced similar challenges but survived, just. No5 David Ferrer needed almost three hours to get past fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, while Feliciano Lopez took more than two hours and three sets to subdue 23-year-old Federico Delbonis, riding a career-high No42 after winning his first title in Sao Paulo.
Also in action were two young players tipped for the very top, and both maturing nicely into their roles.
The 22-year-old Grigor Dimitrov was, slowly but surely, imposing himself on the tour to become the youngest man in the top 20 at a career-high No14. His rangy, all-court game, full of variety, touch and panache, has drawn comparisons with Federer’s—though he has grown more than tired of such comments. But with two titles already this year and 20 match-wins—including the scalp of Andy Murray—he is a man going places.
He began his campaign with an easy win over fellow youngster, the ATP’s Most Improved Player of the Year, Pablo Carreno Busta. But it was his next against the unfancied 23-year-old Marius Copil, ranked 169, that showed Dimitrov’s quality.
It became a truly stunning contest between two men going for their shots, echoing one-another with single-handed backhands, serving clutch at the tightest of moments. Dimitrov withstood the pressure through a high-quality final tie-break to seize the day, and may well have become Madrid’s darling—until he faces Rafael Nadal, as he is scheduled to do if he beats Tomas Berdych in the quarters.
The other young man on the ‘watch list’ has also drawn Swiss comparisons, though for 20-year-old Dominic Thiem, it is with Stan Wawrinka. One look at the tennis he brought to Rotterdam to take a set from Murray confirmed this was no idle comparison. His impressive brand of attacking tennis had taken him from No139 to No70 in 2014—the youngest player in the top 100—even before coming through qualifying for the seventh time this season. Then he beat Dmitry Tursunov, and more was to come—by chance against Wawrinka.
The world No3 and Australian Open champion was a finalist here last year, and Wawrinka looked the part in winning the first set, 6-1. But Thiem, playing first-strike, bold tennis, surged back for his first victory over a top-10 player, 6-2, 6-4.
In the list of 2014 achievers, Alexandr Dolgopolov scores highly, too. He has made the biggest jump in the top 50 this season, rising 35 places to No22. And he took on another of the big achievers of the year, especially on clay: No13 seed Fabio Fognini.
The Italian had won 26 match-wins in 2014 already, and one title from three clay finals. But in an ill-tempered performance, he lost his concentration and his first-round match to Dolgopolov 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
The reward for The Dog, himself one of the more flamboyant and unpredictable talents on the tour, was another hot-headed character, the equally charismatic shot-maker Ernests Gulbis.
Latvian Gulbis, an early bloomer who failed to build on his prodigious talent, was at last beginning to demonstrate the consistency and maturity needed to achieve his stated ambition of the top 10. Currently ranked 20, he scored his 19th win of the season in another ill-tempered match full of complaint and provocation against the No21-ranked Jerzy Janowicz, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.
That victory set up a fascinating third encounter between Gulbis and Dologopolov. As the Ukrainian said after beating Fognini:
“[Ernest] has all the shots. Sometimes he just gets a little bit angry on the court, which can affect his game. But apart from that, he can play unbelievable… I’ll need to make him play a lot of shots and maybe he can make a few errors.”
Dolgopolov had beaten Gulbis only last month in Monte Carlo, but the conditions in Madrid are faster, and the tall man from Latvia got his power game—big, varied serve, deep angled backhand and open-armed forehand—grooved straight away. And Gulbis is not a one-trick pony: He has a great drop shot, has learned patient and effective defence, and has a sharp tactical brain.
The straight-sets scoreline in Gulbis’s favour did little justice to the tennis of his opponent, for this was high-octane hitting, aggressive and varied, living up to the promise of these two big talents. What’s more, Gulbis kept focused even in brief moments of adversity. It was he who was broken first in the opening set, but he stormed back to 4-2 and held for the set, 6-3.
In the second set, he missed an early break chance at 0-40 in the fifth game, only to see Dolgopolov attack the ball to win five straight points and a hold. Gulbis did not let the next chance pass, though, breaking in the seventh and, defending break point in the last game to serve out 6-4.
He afterwards showed that astute tactical brain: “It was a different match [from Monte Carlo]. There I tried to go for long rallies so this time I just went for shorter rallies. I was much more aggressive with my backhand, served much better and I prefer the conditions in Madrid, because Monte-Carlo is really slow.”
But while Djokovic is missing from this eighth, the road remains tough. There is only one other unseeded man ranked higher than No20 Gulbis and his first two opponents, No21 Janowicz and No22 Dolgopolov—and Kevin Anderson, ranked No19, was knocked out by Berdych in the second round. Yet Gulbis is still faced, most probably, by another man on a hot 2014 run.
Marin Cilic, ranked 26, has won 26 matches and two titles this season, promises an intriguing match-up, the first since their only meeting as 18-year-olds in St Petersburg. Cilic won, but both have suffered dips in their prodigious form since that youthful encounter, and both are now enjoying surges.
The other shooting star in this half, the winner in Barcelona last week, No10 seed Kei Nishikori, may be even worse off. He has been in remarkable form since his return from injury this season, claiming 24 match-wins and two titles for only four losses. But he must next contend with No8 seed Milos Raonic—big, powerful, and improving with each of his 23 years. One suspects, though, that the fleet-of-foot Japanese with the searing forehand will conjure his way to the quarter-finals.