Rafael Jódar is making a big effort in making sure everybody knows his name. The 19-year-old Spaniard has become the first player under 20 to reach multiple Masters 1,000 quarter-finals since Novak Djokovic in 2007, two in a row (Madrid Open and now Italian Open). He has done it in style, with a very symbolic 6-1, 6-4 win over Learner Tien, the 20-year-old who won the last edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals, but lost to Jódar in the group stage, meaning that the Spaniard now leads the head to head 2-0 against the American.
Also in Madrid, Jódar beat Joao Fonseca in their first duel: Fonseca was the breakthrough star of last season, Next Gen ATP Finals champion in 2024 and was (and still is) considered as one of the potential top players of the future, but Jódar has passed him in all metrics: leads the Next Gen Race with 1,169 points, over twice as Fonseca, and is 12th overall in the ATP Race to Turin. And while Jódar is in the last eight, Fonseca was defeated in first round by unseeded player Hamad Medjedovic.
Jódar was only stopped by Jannik Sinner in Madrid last month, and the World No. 1 didn't have it easy, being taken to the tie-break in the second set; later, Sinner praised his rival and dedicated the victory to him, writing "what a player" over the camera. Next for Jódar, after his debut match against Sinner... may be his debut match against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.