The program in Madrid: Nadal against Blanche, 22 years his junior; Grigor’s rival becomes clear

Although we are only at the beginning of it, there are many interesting matches ahead of us at the tournament in Madrid. However, the most attention will be drawn to the five-time champion in the Spanish city, Rafael Nadal, who will have the task of meeting Darwin Blanche, who is almost 22 years younger than him. At the age of 16, Blanche is known as one of the most promising young talents on the Tour and although he is outside the top 1000, the teenager impresses with his aggressive and risky play. Their meeting will take place at the “Manolo Santana” stadium, and it is expected to start no earlier than 18:00 Bulgarian time.

For women, we will see some of the most popular tennis players in action, in the faces of Iga Šviontek, Koko Goff and Naomi Osaka. The Pole will be tasked with meeting one of the rising names of the last 12 months, Siu Wang, while Goff, who could reach second in the rankings behind Madrid, will face clay specialist Arancha Rus. The match between Osaka and the top 15 representative Lyudmila Samsonova deserves special attention.

For us, the meeting between Jakub Menshik and Yanik Hanfman, who will determine Grigor Dimitrov’s opponent in the second round of the competition, will also be of interest.

The program for Day 4 of Madrid

Manolo Santana Stadium (not before 12:00 Bulgarian time)

1. Yohishito Nishioka – Félix Auger-Aliassime

2. Naomi Osaka – Lyudmila Samsonova

3. Coco Goff – Arantha Rus

4. Darwin Blanche – Rafael Nadal (not before 18:00)

5. Iga Shviontek – Xu Wang

Arantxa Sánchez Stadium

1. Maria Sakari – Donna Vekic

2. Richard Gasquet – Lorenzo Sonego

3. Daniel Gallán – Roberto Bautista-Agut

4. Anna-Karolina Shmiedlova – Ons Jaber

5. Dominic Köpfer – Roberto Carbayes Baena

Stadium 3

1. Sarah Soribes Tormo – Elina Svitolina

2. Jelena Ostapenko – Jessica Busas Maneiro

3. Jinzheng Zhang – Miomir Ketsmanovic

4. Albert Ramos Vinolas – Pavel Kotov

5. Alex Mickelsen – Joao Fosseca

Court 4

1. Tomasz Makhach – Emil Ruusuvuori

2. Dusan Lajovic – Thiago Monteiro

3. Beatrice Hadad Maya – Sarah Errani

4. Maria Lourdes Carle – Veronika Kudermetova

5. Leila Fernandes – Anastasia Potapova

Court 5

1. Victoria Azarenka – Tatiana Maria

2. Emiliana Arango – Diana Yastremska

3. Alexandra Eala – Sorana Kirstya

4. Elise Mertens – Sloane Stevens

Court 6

1. Alejandro Tabillo – Flavio Coboli

2. Christopher O’Connell – Matteo Arnaldi

3. Yannick Hanfman – Jakub Mensik

4. Alexander Kovacevich – Hamad Medzhedovich

Court 7

1. Madison Keys – Irina-Camelia Begu

2. Nadia Podoroska – Emma Navarro

Court 8

1. Pedro Cachin – Sebastian Ofner

2. Max Purcell – Marcos Giron

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