Barbados' Davis Cup team celebrating their hard-fought 3-2 Davis Cup victory over hosts Jamaica at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre on Sunday.
Jamaica Social
For the second time in 12 months, Kaipo Marshall produced some fifth-rubber heroics to lead Barbados to victory and keep them in World Group II of the Davis Cup, tennis' premier male team competition. Marshall repelled the challenge of Rowland Phillips 6-4 1-6 6-2 to clinch a 3-2 victory over hosts Jamaica at the Eric Bell Centre in Kingston on Sunday.
"I'm super happy. These types of matches make you dig as deep as possible, especially with the fact that I didn't serve well this tie," Marshall explained having hit 12 double faults in the match.
Not even a lengthy rain delay when the Barbadian was leading 4-0 in the third could thwart his quest for glory, and by the time the match resumed just after 6:30pm Jamaica time, the majority of the partisan crowd had left the venue as the 21-year-old converted on his second match point to complete victory in two hours and 14 minutes, with the Barbados team racing on to court in short but rapturous celebrations.
It was only Marshall's second triumph in nine Davis Cup singles matches but his previous win came in similar do-or-die circumstances against Pacific Oceania in Bridgetown last year.
"I think I've had a crazy rollercoaster of a year since then, but that match definitely helped me in this match," he said.
The win keeps Barbados in Group II while Jamaica have been relegated to Group III.
Non-playing captain, Noel Rutherford said he was disappointed but not so heartbroken at the result. "You have to give credit to the Bajan team," he said.
"I thought we had it when we levelled it all after Blaise came out firing;, I thought we would have closed it off in the final singles but that wasn't to be, this kid came out fighting and you have to give him credit."
Blaise Bicknell won both his singles matches, but defeat in doubles alongside Phillips, plus wins for Darian King and Marshall over Phillips were enough to take Barbados to the win.
Nadal slumps out of Madrid Open as farewell appearance comes to a halt
Jiri Lehecka claimed a memorable win over one of tennis' greats as he downed Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open.
Nadal's farewell appearance at the tournament he has won five times came to an end with a 7-5 6-4 defeat on Tuesday.
The 22-time grand slam champion had been hoping to tee up a quarter-final against Daniil Medvedev.
Ultimately, though, world number 31 Lehecka was the man who progressed.
Lehecka ruined the hopes of the Nadal fans packed into the stands in the Spanish capital, and took control when he reeled off 10 straight points to take the opening set.
Nadal won the Madrid Open in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017, and said farewell to the crowd in an on-court interview following his defeat.
Data Debrief: Nadal falls short of milestone
Nadal had been hoping to win his 60th match at the Madrid Open, while he would have reached his 100th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final had he won. This was his first defeat to a player ranked lower than 20th in the world since he went down to Pablo Cuevas in 2016.
Lehecka, meanwhile, will make his second appearance in the last eight of a Masters 1000 event.
Auger-Aliassime gets the better of Ruud as Medvedev hits Masters 1000 milestone
Casper Ruud's hopes of building on his victory at the Barcelona Open were ended as he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Madrid Open.
Auger-Aliassime will now face top seed Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals, after claiming a 6-4 7-5 victory over the fifth seed Ruud on Tuesday.
Ruud, runner-up at last year's French Open and a force to be reckoned with on clay, won in Barcelona earlier in April, but came unstuck against the Canadian.
It was not the only shock exit, as Alexander Zverev, the world number five, succumbed in straight sets to Francisco Cerundolo.
Earlier, Daniil Medvedev claimed his place in the quarters, in which he could face Rafael Nadal, by beating Alexander Bublik 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Data Debrief: Medvedev's milestone
Five of the six quarter-finals Medvedev has reached on clay have come at either ATP Masters 1000 or grand slam level.
He has now reached at least the quarter-final stage at all nine Masters events, too.
Alcaraz matches Nadal record as reigning champion scrapes into Madrid Open quarters
Jan-Lennard Struff made life difficult for Carlos Alcaraz, but the reigning Madrid Champion eventually made it through.
Alcaraz had won both of his opening games with the minimum of fuss, but he needed three sets to get beyond Struff, who won a second-set tie-break.
However, Alcaraz eventually prevailed in the decider, clinching a 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Alcaraz, who is in the hunt for a third straight title in Madrid, will now face seventh-seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the last four.
Data Debrief: Prodigal son matches the master
There have been plenty of comparisons between Alcaraz and his fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
And with his win on Tuesday, Alcaraz matched Nadal's record for the longest winning run at the Madrid Open, at 14 matches, since the tournament began in 2002.
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