Zverev, Musetti round out blockbuster round of 16 lineup at Madrid Masters

Mutua Madrid Open | Draw | Order of play

Alexander Zverev and Lorenzi Musetti booked their spots alongside each other in round three of the Mutua Madrid Open with victories on Wednesday. Zverev overcame Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 before Musetti cruised past Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-1.

Cilic took the first set against the second-seeded German and had a break point to get back on serve in the second with Zverev serving at 5-4. The two-time Madrid champion saved it with a winner off the net cord and held for 5-5 before taking the next two games to clinch victory.

Zverev and Musetti will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Thursday.

Two of the late winners on Wednesday were Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Dimitrov made surprisingly quick 6-0, 6-3 work of Diego Schwartzman before Tsitsipas capped off the night session on Court Manolo Santana by beating Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-4. Tsitsipas and Dimitrov will be going head-to-head for the fifth time on Thursday; the Greek has taken three of their four previous meetings.

Murray vs Djokovic, Sinner vs Auger-Aliassime also on the schedule

In a loaded top half of the bracket, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will be squaring off for the 36th time in their careers. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 25-11. They have not faced each other in more than five years, as their last encounter came in the 2017 Doha final — won by Djokovic 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. This is a rematch of the 2016 Madrid championship match, also won by the Serb 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, Rafael Nadal may have an even more difficult road to the final. The five-time Madrid champion already defeated Miomir Kecmanovic and now he will go up against David Goffin before possibly running into Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals and Djokovic in the semis. It will be Nadal-Alcaraz on Friday if they both win their third-round matches.

Alcaraz, who will face Cameron Norrie on Thursday, won’t get caught looking ahead.

“It would be great,” the 18-year-old said of an all-Spanish showdown in front of the Madrid fans. “It would be beautiful. But at the end of the day it is a Masters 1000. We have the most important players here, and we have to demonstrate a really good level, both Rafa and myself.”

Other third-round matchups are Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev vs. Dan Evans, and Hubert Hurkacz vs. Dusan Lajovic.

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