De Minaur crashes out in Madrid as slump continues
Australia's Alex de Minaur made a tame early exit from the Madrid Open, losing 6-3 6-1 to Rafael Jodar in his first match to hand the 19-year-old Spaniard his maiden win over a top-10 opponent.
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Jodar delighted the home crowd, playing with supreme confidence against world No.8 de Minaur, who simply had no answers with world No.1 Jannik Sinner watching from the sidelines after his win earlier in the day.
Since winning Rotterdam in February, De Minaur has had a miserable run, particularly at the ATP 1000 events.
He was humbled by Hamad Medjedovic in Barcelona, losing in straight sets to the qualifier in the Round of 16, having also lost a quarter-final at Monte-Carlo he was expected to win against home favourite Valentin Vacherot.
Prior to that on the hard courts, De Minaur lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Round of 64 at Miami, another straight sets defeat that came of a similarly disappoitning exit in Indian Wells to Cameron Norrie in the Round of 32.
Wild card Jodar beat No.5 seed De Minaur in 75-minutes and will next play another 19-year-old in Brazilian Joao Fonseca, a clash between the two youngest players inside the top 100.
Fonseca advanced to the third round after Marin Cilic was forced to withdraw ahead of their clash because of food poisoning.
Fonseca enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time in Monte-Carlo.
