Casper Ruud’s Madrid Masters title defence was laid to waste on Thursday as the Norwegian found his way impeded by Belgian outsider Alexander Blockx 6-4, 6-4.

The world No. 69 winner powered into the smei-fibals on the clay of the Spanish capital, posting one of the biggest wins of his career.

Blockx is new to clay success, never winning a match on the surface until a fortnight ago when he booked into the Monte Carlo quarters where he lost to Alex de Minaur.

Prior to his upset loss, Ruud had dropped just five games at the Caja Magica in his first two matches before outlasting Stefanos Tsitsipas in a struggle of three tiebreak sets.

The loss sends Ruud out of the ranking top 20 for the first time in five years.

Blockx added the two-time Roland Garros finalist to a Madrid upset list which also includes Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“I’m just happy with being here. I barely escaped in the first round, and I was happy about that already. 

“Semi-finals is something I wouldn’t have even dreamed of to begin with,” Blockx said. .

“I’m proud of how I’ve played these past couple of matches. I think the conditions suit me well here. I feel like it’s clay which is slow, so I have time to settle and hit my shots, go for my shots.”

Ruud lost in 96 minutes; Blockx will wait for a  semi-final opponent as second-seeded two-time Madrid champion Alexander Zverev faces Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.

Alexander Zverev backed up a win this month over Flavio Cobolli and moved into elite ATP company as the third seed reached another semi-final at the Madrid Masters on Thursday.

The German’s 6-4, 6-1 win boosted him alongside Roger Federer (2006), Rafael Nadal (2010, 2011) and Jannik Sinner (2026) as only the fourth man to reach the semi-finals at each of the first four Masters 1000 events of the season since the series began in 1990.

The two-time Madrid champion reached the final four on the back of eight aces to complete his third top 20 win of the season.

Jannik Sinner needed a sweep of the final 11 points of the match to hold over rising NextGen rival Rafa Jodar, with the Italian world No. 1 completing his career match set of Masters 1000 semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-6 (0) Wednesday win in Madrid.

The 24-year-old top seed faced a battle as he took in a 19-year-old tipped as the Next Big Thing on the ATP.

Sinner, who wore that label not so many seasons ago, extended his winning run at the Masters level to 26 straight matches as he and Jodar played for the first time. 

He has won his last 21 this season, with his latest under the closed roof in the Spanish capital lasting for just under two hours..

The top seed who is bidding to become the first player to ever win five straight Masters titles, saved seven break points while break the Jodar serve on seven occasions

 The Spanish youngster has moved from 168th in the rankings to his current 34th, with a first career Tour title this month in Marrakech.

“He pushed me to the limit, he’s an incredible player,”the winner said. “I tried to be ready for the match as much as I could fr this first meeting.

“Now we know what to expect from each other.”

Sinner added: “I’m incredibly happy to win this match. In the second set I got a bit lucky with a little bit of experience.”

The Italian is keeping his mind off of the history he is writing on his win streak. “Reaching the semi-finals of any tournament is tough. I’m just trying to improve on every surface and condition.”