The Madrid Open had a very surprising finalist at the 2023 tournament.
There have been some legendary champions at the Madrid Open over the years, including Rafael Nadal, who won the title a record five times in the Spanish capital.
Nadal is not the only Spanish player to win the Madrid Open title since 2010, with Carlos Alcaraz also winning two titles at the Masters 1000 tournament.
Alcaraz’s second title victory came in 2023, where he beat a finalist who was not expected to even be in the first round.
Jan-Lennard Struff reached the Madrid Open final as a lucky loser
German ATP player Jan-Lennard Struff came into the 2023 Madrid Open having already produced impressive results on clay that year, which included beating both Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur en route to reaching the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals.
However, as Struff’s ranking was not high enough prior to the entry cut-off, he was forced to play qualifying for the Madrid Open.
As the top seed for qualifying, Struff was expected to breeze through these matches, but he came unstuck in his final qualifying match against 2021 Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev.
This appeared to be the end of the road for Struff, before he was handed a lifeline after Constant Lestienne withdrew to give him a last-minute place in the main draw as a lucky loser.
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There were still low expectations for Struff, as he had been unable to surpass the second round of the Madrid Open in his three previous appearances.
Struff exceeded all expectations and beat the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ben Shelton to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal.
This was where Struff would face qualifier Karatsev again, in the most unlikely of semifinals at the Madrid Open.
Karatsev looked like he was going to beat Struff again, but the German came from a set down to become the first lucky loser in history to reach a Masters 1000 final.
Struff would even win a set in the final against Alcaraz, but his dream ultimately came to an end in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 final defeat.
This run would enable Struff to reach his career-high ranking of world number 21 later that year at 33 years old.
| Madrid Open 2023 | Jan-Lennard Struff’s Result |
| First qualifying round | Struff beat Luca Nardi, 7-5 6-4 |
| Second qualifying round | Aslan Karatsev beat Struff, 6-4 6-2 |
| (Main draw) First Round | Struff beat Lorenzo Sonego, 6-3 6-1 |
| Second Round | Struff beat Ben Shelton (32), 4-6 7-6(4) 7-5 |
| Third Round | Struff beat Dusan Lajovic, 6(2)-7 6-3 6-3 |
| Fourth Round | Struff beat Pedro Cachin, 7-6(7) 6(7)-7 6-3 |
| Quarterfinal | Struff beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (4), 7-6(5) 5-7 6-3 |
| Semifinal | Struff beat Aslan Karatsev (Q), 4-6 6-3 6-4 |
| Final | Carlos Alcaraz beat Struff, 6-4 3-6 6-3 |
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Struff has been unable to surpass the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament since then, and he even fell outside the top 150 last year.
However, after making runs to the fourth round of the US Open and the third round of Wimbledon, as well as winning his seventh ATP Challenger title last year, Struff is back inside the top 100 and secured direct entry for a return to the Madrid Open main draw.
In his two previous appearances at the Madrid Open since 2023, Struff reached the fourth round in 2024 and second round in 2025.
Struff, who will turn 36 years old during the Madrid Open this year, has already secured his 12th win at the tournament.
After a comfortable 7-6(3), 6-0 win over Frenchman Alexandre Muller, Struff will face 33rd seed Alex Michelsen for a return to the third round of the Madrid Open.
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