Never in his brief but spectacular professional career has Alcaraz’s instinctive feel for the game served him better than at this week’s Madrid Open, where he followed up a landmark quarter-final win over Rafael Nadal with a thrilling 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory over world No 1 Novak Djokovic, becoming the first player ever to fell those two titans of the sport over consecutive days on clay. It was a triumph hewn of prodigious talent allied with determination, self-belief and a clarity of thought under pressure that should not be possible in one so young. 

“I would say that I am more mature to manage the tough moments, the nerves, to manage everything on court,” said Alcaraz of a rise that has brought victory in all but three of his 30 matches this season, earning him titles in Rio, Miami and Barcelona and a place in the world’s top 10. “I think I am able to play long rallies… to manage the nerves, to manage the tough moments. I’m ready to play against this kind of player.”

It showed. Alcaraz, the seventh seed, didn’t just outplay Djokovic, he outsmarted him. Few are better versed in the art of shot selection than the Serb, a point he underlined as he sought to retrieve an early break midway through the opening set. Having fashioned a rare break point, Djokovic tamed one of the numerous kick serves Alcaraz sent rearing up above his opponent’s shoulders with an exquisite looped return. It was an unusual shot, one difficult to pull off at an event where high altitude puts control at a premium, and as the ball landed deep and fizzed up off the clay, Alcaraz was momentarily thrown out of his rhythm. The Spaniard missed his next shot, and Djokovic went on to edge the set. 

With Alcaraz serving at deuce in the ninth game of the second set, Djokovic made recourse to the tactic again. Having just been denied a break point by another terrific kick serve from Alcaraz, the top seed rolled a return high and deep, pressing for a breakthrough that would leave him serving for the match. This time, though, Alcaraz was ready. His keen tactical mind had banked the first-set precedent, and he knew just what to do. Backing off the baseline, the Spaniard replied in kind, arcing a forehand skywards. He didn’t stop there. With Djokovic now pinned far behind the baseline, Alcaraz came dashing forward in anticipation of another high ball. His intuition was, as always, spot on. As Alcaraz bludgeoned away a swing volley, Djokovic allowed himself a wry smile, a tacit acknowledgement that he had just been outfoxed by a man half his age. 

It was a relatively innocuous moment, a minor key in a bold symphony of thunderous shot-making and muscular athleticism, yet it spoke volumes about the tactical agility of a player who, if he can stay healthy, is surely on a fast-track to greatness. Another example of the Spaniard’s preternatural ability to learn on the job came early in the third set, when he slotted a short ball into space with Djokovic stranded at the net. In the previous set, faced with a similar shot that would have left him with two set points, he had tried to outsmart Djokovic by going behind him, only to find his rival had held his ground. Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, may have been behind many of the strategic nuances that won Alcaraz the match – not least the counter-intuitive tactic of spinning his serve up high to the backhand of the sport’s best returner – but there are some things that cannot be taught.

“In those decisive moments is when you see the good players and the top players,” said Alcaraz, who will face Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final after the German world No 3 claimed his first clay-court victory over Stefanos Tsistsipas, the fourth seed, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. 

“That is where you can tell the difference between a good player and a top player, like Djokovic, Rafa, Federer, or all the players that are ultimately there for a long time. I want to make a difference on that… in those key, decisive [moments], I want to go for the match.”

Go for it he did, accumulating 51 winners to Djokovic’s 24, maintaining his physical level throughout a battle that spanned three hours and 35 minutes, and harnessing the energy of the Madrid crowd as though to the manner born. 

Alcaraz’s ability to orchestrate the locals was never more apparent than in the first-set tiebreak, where he came within a point of erasing a 6-2 deficit with an audacious sequence of shot-making – drilled return winner, ace, exquisite drop shot – that showcased both the swashbuckling nature of his game and the variety of his repertoire. Cries of “Sí, se puede!” rained down from the stands – “Yes, you can!” – before Djokovic, no stranger to a hostile crowd, finally erupted in defiant jubilation as Alcaraz netted a backhand. Yet the Spaniard, a blizzard of unwavering vitality and desire, just kept coming, and in the end Djokovic could only hail his young opponent’s boldness and resolve. 

“For somebody of his age to play so maturely and courageously is impressive,” said Djokovic. “His kick [at] altitude here is huge, and it was just difficult to deal with his ball. I wasn’t feeling my return from that side. He was serving a lot of kick to put himself in a good position, and I just didn’t manage to handle that well.”

Zverev, who avenged his semi-final defeat to Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo, joked after his late-night victory that the Manolo Santana Stadium, having belonged to Nadal for the past 15 years, would be the property of Alcaraz for the next 15. The German defending champion has been beaten just twice in 21 matches in the Spanish capital, but he is under no illusions about the size of the challenge ahead.

“I’m just extremely happy to be in the final here,” said the 25-year-old. “I know it’s going to be an extremely tough match tomorrow, but I hope I can manage to play my best and give myself a chance.”

As Djokovic and Nadal can attest, chances are increasingly rare against Alcaraz these days.

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Alcaraz doesn’t appear to do trepidation, however, and it is a measure of how rapidly the gap is narrowing between the gifted young Spaniard and even his most feted peers that it was Nadal, the winner of 21 grand slam titles, who approached the contest with greater uncertainty. Admittedly, that was largely down to circumstance. His rib barely recovered, Nadal arrived in Madrid with minimal preparation and correspondingly low expectations. The more immediate backdrop to his third meeting with Alcaraz was a three-hour epic against David Goffin that exacerbated his chronic foot injury. 

Yet Nadal’s pre-match observation that “today, he is better than me and he has a good dynamic, a good momentum” proved prescient as Alcaraz secured a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory, becoming the first teenager to beat the five-time Madrid champion on clay. That he did so despite suffering a heavy fall that left him requiring treatment on an ankle injury, and in the face of a typically intrepid fightback from Nadal, merely added to the resonance of a win that will only reinforce the widely-held belief that a first grand slam victory is imminent, potentially as soon as Roland Garros. 

“I’m very excited,” said Alcaraz, the seventh seed, who will rise to a career-high ranking of sixth next week only a fortnight after he broke into the top 10 by clinching his third title of the year, at the Barcelona Open. “A lot of excitement. Very few players can say that they have defeated Rafa on clay. I feel fortunate to be one of them. Right now I am very, very happy.”

Defeat at a stop on the clay-court swing where the altitude makes for atypical playing conditions will be of less concern to Nadal than finding form and fitness in time for Roland Garros, where he will begin his pursuit of a 14th title in a fortnight’s time. A first victory over his compatriot nonetheless represents a landmark moment not only for Alcaraz but also, as Nadal acknowledged, for Spanish tennis.

“He’s 19 years old,” said Nadal. “His birthday was yesterday. Me, I’m 36 years old. Of course it’s a handover. From here onwards, if it’s today or not, we will see.

“He has been better than me in several aspects of the match and several aspects of the game, and I need to improve.

“I just accept it naturally with calm and with security, that there is a path to continue until two-and-a-half weeks’ time, more or less, to try to generate with myself real options, and that’s what I’m working on right now. It’s an easy loss to digest in that regard, because we knew what we could expect here. Because of that, I don’t take away any merit from Carlos. Congratulations to him. He’s playing great, and I hope the best for him for the rest of the tournament.”

Novak Djokovic awaits Alcaraz in the semi-finals after his own comeback gathered pace with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Hubert Hurkacz. Djokovic, who is bidding for a fourth title in Madrid after reaching the final in Belgrade a fortnight ago, offered a warm appraisal of the Spaniard’s virtues.

“Nowadays we are not used to seeing somebody who is teenager and already getting to the top 10 and playing on such a high level,” said the world No 1. “His growth, his improvement, and his journey, particularly the last six months, has been amazing.  

“I love to watch him play,” added the Serb. “I praise his game without a doubt. He’s fantastic for our sport. I think it’s great that we have a young player who is doing so well and giving a new fresh breath to the tennis world. Seeing that and knowing that he’s a very nice guy, very humble with good values, is a perfect combination.”

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Alexander Zverev will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world No 5, in a repeat of their recent semi-final meeting in Monte Carlo, where the Greek ran out a straight-sets winner. 

Zverev was firmly in control of his quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed, only to squander four break points that would have left him serving for the match. Helped by some wayward serving from the German, who ended the contest with nine double faults, Auger-Aliassime fought back to level the set at 5-5 only to concede a fourth and final break as Zverev ran out a 6-3, 7-5 winner. Tsitsipas too was made to toil for his semi-final berth, overcoming sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 after securing a break in the penultimate game of a battle lasting almost two hours. Zverev is under no illusions about the nature of the challenge that lies ahead.

“Rafa is on his way back and Novak is starting to gain momentum, but right now maybe he’s the best clay-court player in the world,” said Zverev of the Greek fourth seed. “I think I need to play my best level to have a chance, but I’m looking forward to this match because in Monte Carlo he beat me quite easily. I hope I can change that.”

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Like Real, who were minutes from defeat against Manchester City before the Brazilian substitute Rodrygo intervened to drag the tie into extra-time, Nadal has form for dramatic acts of escapology. Just as Madrid had previously staged stirring comebacks against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea this season, so the Majorcan has repeatedly shown his fortitude in recent months, not least by rebounding from two sets to love down against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open in January to mark his return from a six-month injury layoff with a record 21st grand slam title. 

Nadal, who also fought back from 5-2 down in the final set against Sebastian Korda in Indian Wells two months ago, needed all his famed powers of recovery to ward off Goffin, although in truth he had only himself to blame after twice failing to convert match points in the second set. Those aberrations, rare if understandable after six weeks on the sidelines with a fractured rib, paved the way for an electrifying finale that transformed what initially looked destined to be a patchy but routine victory into a clay-court war of mesmerising drama and passion. 

The Spanish crowd were put through the wringer, the Caja Mágica transformed into a seething cauldron of emotion as Nadal, the local hero and five-time champion, flirted first with triumph and then with disaster. “Sí, se puede!!” rang out the collective cry – “Yes, you can!” – and so it proved, although only just. 

Four times in the final-set tiebreak Goffin held match point; three times Nadal roused himself, Rodrygo-like, to deny him. First came a vicious, biting serve that sent the Belgian on a fruitless chase into the doubles alley. Afterwards, a pair of courageous and immaculately executed drop shots. In between, Goffin contributed to his own downfall, firing a short ball into the net at 6-5 to spurn a famous victory. His compatriot Kevin De Bruyne, the vanquished Manchester City midfielder, would no doubt empathise. 

Nadal acknowledged the obvious symmetry between the match and events at the Bernabéu the previous evening. “It’s always that our trajectory is about fighting, is about believing, is about trying till the last, until the match is done,” said the 35-year-old when invited to expand on the comparison. 

“Probably that’s why we were able to [fight back]. Of course, adding that Real Madrid is a great team with big talent. And probably I have a good talent too, no? We [both] try till the end, and we believe.”

The initial skirmishes offered little hint of the excitement that lay ahead. Nadal picked up from where he left off against Dominic Thiem in the previous round, striking the ball with authority while remaining unusually error-prone. An early break point came and went after the Spaniard dropped a backhand short, and in the fifth game he double-faulted twice before receiving a time violation that seemed to disturb his concentration, drawing further mistakes. 

Fortunately for Nadal, Goffin was in similarly generous mood. The Belgian gifted the break back immediately with double-faults of his own and further largesse was to come in the eighth game, where he recovered from 0-40 only to be undone by two wayward forehands. That was enough for Nadal to secure the set, yet neither man looked wholly convincing.

The second set began in different vein, the five-time champion bearing down on Goffin with greater intensity as he looked to stretch his lead. Bludgeoning crosscourt forehands pulled the Belgian ever further off the baseline, creating yawning gaps that Nadal exploited gleefully. As a run of eight straight points put the third seed firmly in control, and Goffin continued to overpress off the ground, a workmanlike victory beckoned.

Yet Goffin arrived in Madrid buoyed by a restorative title run in Marrakech last month, his career and ranking once again on an upward trajectory following a knee injury that forced him out of the game for six months. That setback, which forced him to call time on his season after an opening-round exit at the US Open last August, made the 31-year-old wonder if he would ever again regain the form that once carried him to three grand slam quarter-finals and a career-high ranking of No 7. His current position of 60th remains a far cry from his best, but he is relishing the return to clay and the confidence is beginning to flow again. 

That became increasingly apparent after Nadal sent a regulation backhand long with Goffin serving at match point down in the ninth game. In the next game, Nadal smoked a forehand to earn a second match point, only to see Goffin hammer away a short ball behind a penetrating return before fashioning a break with a superb lunging volley. As Goffin relaxed, attacking the net with abandon and forcing the play from the back, tension crept into Nadal’s game. The Spaniard celebrated wildly after saving a first set point at 5-6, but when Goffin opened up the court with a searing return to fashion another, he was not to be denied a second time, a huge off-forehand paving the way for a titanic decider.

“At the end of the day you’re suffering in the match,” said Nadal, who will face Carlos Alcaraz in a blockbuster all-Spanish quarter-final after the teenager came through 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 against Cameron Norrie, the British ninth seed. “I said it many, many times. You have to learn on how to live with these kind of moments, and also to enjoy this kind of suffering. It’s what we work for, for thrilling moments.”

After a fine week’s work that has brought victories over Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov, Andy Murray would no doubt agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, however, the thrilling moments that lay in prospect as Murray prepared to face Novak Djokovic for the first time in five years failed to materialise, with the former world No 1 forced to withdraw following an untimely bout of food poisoning. News of Murray’s misfortune filtered through just over an hour before the pair were scheduled to go on court. 

“I had a message yesterday from Andy that he was not feeling well,” said Feliciano López, the tournament director. “He had food poisoning, it sounds like he is feeling better this morning but [he] is still not well enough to go on the court.”

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As Nadal explained, he is not one for looking back – not even at the 21st grand slam title that left him out on his own as the most successful man ever to pick up a racket. All he had thought about, he said, was recovering so that he could start his delayed preparations for Roland Garros, where he will bid for number 22.

That mentality, always looking forward to the next challenge, never resting on his laurels, has been a pillar of the Spaniard’s success. Even at 35, his competitive appetite remains insatiable. Which is probably just as well given that, in Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, his first opponent in Madrid, he was handed what has been one of the tour’s tougher assignments of late.   

Not too many players have won more matches than Nadal since the turn of the year. Kecmanovic, with 23 victories, is one of them. Ranked 77th before the Australian Open, where he reached the last 16, the 22-year-old has been on a tear ever since, reaching five straight quarter-finals before making the last four in Munich to climb to a career high of No 32. Nadal was always going to have his work cut out, and while he swept through the opening set as though he had never been away, he met with sterner resistance in the second, twice failing to consolidate breaks before sealing a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win.

“I leave the match very, very happy,” said Nadal after coming through in an hour and 50 minutes. “You have to be sincere with yourself whenever you can. You have to be truthful to yourself. My preparation has not existed. You cannot expect great things at the beginning, because before coming here I had trained very, very little. I had just like trained like one day, and all trainings have had some up-and-downs. 

“It’s been a roller coaster. I have had better days, worse days. It’s logical. I think that yesterday I start to feel a little bit better, and today also in the pre warm-up I was feeling well. I think that in general I have done a good match. First set was very good. The second set, I don’t consider it a bad set, but when you have been a long time without competing, it’s normal that you have up and downs in a match, because you have to recover your routine.”

Practice or no practice, it quickly became clear that inactivity has done nothing to blunt the potency of Nadal’s clay-court game. Kecmanovic found the ball whistling up around his ears from the opening point, and while he soon settled into a rhythm from the baseline, the flatter trajectory of his shots producing some entertaining rallies, the Serb offered little by way of threat. Not so Nadal, who moved smoothly through the gears, creating the platform for a first break with a knifed crosscourt backhand, and sealing the deal with a characteristically assured overhead. 

The dilemma facing Kecmanovic was clear. When he stayed back, he was either outmanoeuvred or outhit. When he came forward, as he did frequently, he was either passed or confronted by an ankle-high ball loaded with topspin. Some deft touches from Nadal in the forecourt did little to help the Serb’s cause. Respite eventually came early in the second set, when a sudden downpour forced a break in the proceedings while the roof was closed. The delay enabled Kecmanovic’s coach, the former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian, to impart some impassioned advice behind the scenes. Despite a slow start to their partnership, which began early last year, Kecmanovic has credited Nalbandian with revitalising his point construction and shot-making, and the Serb returned with renewed resolve and a fresh tactical approach, taking the pace off his first serve and intensifying his assault on Nadal’s backhand. 

It looked like it would be to no avail when Nadal smoked a forehand winner to move a break ahead. But a loose service game from the Spaniard, combined with some bolder hitting from Kecmanovic, saw the advantage immediately cancelled out, and from there the complexion of the contest altered. Errors began to creep into Nadal’s play. Kecmanovic manufactured a gritty hold, saving a break point. A love service game, clinched with a beautifully controlled lob, later left Nadal serving to stay in the set, and a decider began to look a real possibility.

Nadal, however, responded with a strong hold, bookended by aces, and broke in the next game behind some penetrating returns to lead 6-5. Just when it looked over, however, mistakes again proved costly for the five-time champion, and there were some nervy moments before Nadal finally sealed victory with his third ace.

“It was a very tough first round,” said Nadal, the third seed, who will now face the Belgian qualifier David Goffin, a former world No 7, for a place in the quarter-finals. 

“I think I managed it very well. I played at a good level, so very pleased with the victory. I just try to stay humble, to know things [are] not going to be perfect here and just move forward with the right determination, to accept that I need to fight. I need to stay positive, I need to play with the right attitude, and take every single match that I’m able to win like a present to play another time here.”

And so life continues. To his opponents, Nadal’s continued presence in the draw will feel like the most unwanted of gifts. 

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On the one hand, Thiem is a former US Open champion and world No 3 whose clay-court pedigree, as a two-time finalist in Madrid and at Roland Garros, is beyond reproach. On the other, the Austrian is working his way back from a wrist injury that kept him out of the game for 10 months, and has not won a tour match in more than a year. 

Murray, of course, knows all about the challenges involved in returning from long-term injury, having undergone career-saving hip surgery three years ago. The Scot is not yet where he would wish to be, but he is significantly further along than Thiem, who is just four matches into his recovery, and the difference in competitive sharpness told. In that respect, the contest emphasised why it made sense for Murray, twice the champion in Madrid, to rethink his original plan to skip the clay-court season. The 34-year-old was forced to work hard by Thiem, but his superior tactical clarity, greater consistency and unwavering mental intensity were enough to earn a 6-3, 6-4 victory, his first on a clay court for two years.

“I felt very clear about how I wanted to play tonight,” said Murray, who has just completed a month-long training block with Ivan Lendl in Florida following the revival of their coaching partnership. “I have worked really hard the last four or five weeks, probably longer than that. 

“Before I went to Indian Wells, I felt like I was starting to become a little bit clearer with what I wanted to do and was therefore maybe more engaged in the practices and believing that I’m doing the right things. I feel like in the important moments that helps, when you have a clear head and clear thoughts. From that side, like mentally, I did really, really well tonight. I’m really proud of that side of things. My attitude and my energy on the court was really good.”

Murray’s handling of the key points was exemplary. When a double fault brought up a first break point on his serve early in the second set, he shrewdly altered the direction of his delivery, redirecting his attack away from the Thiem backhand to slam an ace down the centre. Two more break points followed, but Murray was now parading the full range of his repertoire, some fine approach play hustling the Austrian into error before he courageously followed in a kick serve to slot away a backhand volley. After a 10-minute struggle, Murray finally held with a flicked forehand half-volley that the stretching Thiem, drawn in by a drop shot, could only volley into the net from shoelace-level.  

Thiem showed flashes of his old self, particularly in the initial stages. An early reminder of his enduring class came in his opening service game, when the 28-year-old speared a backhand winner down the line to complete a tricky hold. His movement is as sharp as ever, which it needed to be as the pair engaged in an entertaining drop-shot duel, and his service remains a potent weapon. But on the forehand side, Thiem’s reluctance to trust fully in his wrist was evident, with the venomous topspin that has traditionally been his hallmark notably absent. It was a shortcoming that Murray exploited with variations of height and spin that repeatedly drew his opponent into error.

“I haven’t spoken to him about it, but I also had a wrist problem in 2007, I think it was,” said Murray, who will face Denis Shapovalov, the 14th seed, in round two after the Canadian beat Ugo Humbert of France 7-6 (7-1), 6-3. “It’s difficult when you try to come back from that, because the pain that you feel when you initially hurt it, mentally [makes it] very difficult to let go of the wrist.  

“I think at times tonight he did, but there are certain shots that are clearly a little bit more difficult, like when the ball is low and you know you really have to use your wrist to get the ball up and down, or sometimes when the ball is coming fast and quite high, you know, you need to use your wrist a lot to bring the ball down. That shot was certainly inconsistent.”

Murray offered warm encouragement as the pair shook hands afterwards. “Great to see you back,” he told Thiem. “Keep going. It takes a lot of time, but you’ll be fine.” 

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Back on her favourite surface at an event where she has traditionally thrived, Halep has spoken of regaining her old fire since hiring Patrick Mouratoglou as her coach earlier this month. The Romanian showed as much against Badosa, surging past the world No 2 with a poise and assurance that rekindled memories of her two title-winning runs at the Caja Mágica.

Yet it would be a mistake to imagine the Halep of old is back.

Unseeded this year as she seeks to work her way back up the rankings after the travails of last season, when a calf injury kept her out of the French Open and Wimbledon and saw her slip outside the top 10 for the first time in seven years, the world No 21 has already adopted a more aggressive style under Mouratoglou. It reaped dividends against Badosa, enabling Halep to dominate from the baseline against a player whose powerful serve and hefty groundstrokes would previously have encouraged her to fall back on the tenacious, counter-punching style that has traditionally been her hallmark.

“New Simona,” smiled the 30-year-old afterwards when asked if her 6-3, 6-1 victory was vintage Halep. 

“I’m confident, I like how I played. I know this is the way I want to play, we want to play. We talked about it, and I trust 100% what Patrick tells me about the game. 

“I’m really happy and pleased that I can do it on court, because it’s different when you practice [to an] official match. So the fact I could do it in an official match, with one of the best players in the world, gives me confidence.”

The pattern of the contest will have been uncomfortably familiar to Badosa. On Thursday, the Spaniard reeled off nine games in a row from 3-3 in the first set to win her opener against Veronika Kudermetova. This time out, the Spaniard received a dose of her own medicine, clawing back an early break with a run of three straight games only for Halep to regain the advantage in the seventh game after fashioning a break point with a sharply angled forehand winner. Badosa would win only more game.

“She played at a really good level,” said Badosa, who insisted her downfall was down to a combination of Halep’s excellence and her own erratic play, rather than a shoulder injury that required treatment midway through the second set. 

“I haven’t played very well. It was 3-3, and then she broke me and she started playing really well. I started to miss a lot of balls.  You know, as soon as you give her a small opportunity, she was able to go up in the score and was able to beat me.”

It had been clear from the outset that the Spaniard would have her hands full. Halep showed patience, resilience and no little quality, utilising her outstanding movement and defensive skills to contain Badosa’s power, while using deep crosscourt balls and short angles to pull the Spaniard wide. Anything short was summarily punished, Halep moving inside the baseline to take the ball on the rise and crush drives into the open court, and once she had taken the lead she was unstoppable, the quality of her shot-making leaving her opponent increasingly forlorn.

Defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for Badosa, who had so desperately wanted to impress on home soil in her first event since displacing Barbora Krejcikova as world No 2. The 24-year-old, whose run to the semi-finals last season as a 62nd-ranked wildcard was the catalyst for her rise up the rankings, was inconsolable afterwards. 

“It’s not the best moment right now,” said Badosa, who had been the highest seed left in the tournament following the withdrawal of world No 1 Iga Swiatek. 

“Quite bad. It’s tough to lose at home. It’s been a tough week as well – very stressful, a lot of things. Tough draw, as well. But it goes how it goes, and I have to accept it. I think I need days off, because there are some tournaments that seem like five [tournaments], and this is the case right now.”

For Halep, on the other hand – who has said she was “super close” to retiring last season as her form plummeted and her body failed her – the matches suddenly cannot come fast enough. Halep faces 16th seed Coco Gauff in the last 16, against whom she is unbeaten in two previous encounters, and if she can sustain her rich vein of form, there could be much more to come from a season that has already brought a title in Melbourne and semi-finals appearances in Dubai and Indian Wells.

“I didn’t know how much I can play, and how good I can play still,” said Haelp. “But now I’m a different person. I feel more confident. I feel that the pleasure helps me to work harder, to work more. I spend more time on the court.

“I think it’s everything coming from inside, and at this point I feel happy with myself. I feel that I have the chance to play good tennis again.  Actually, it’s my number one priority in this moment. I feel again that fire.”

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