Jannik Sinner withdraws from Madrid with right-hip injury; Auger-Aliassime into semis

Less than an hour after second seed Carlos Alcaraz was sent packing at the Mutua Madrid Open by Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, top seed Jannik Sinner also departed from the tournament.

Sinner withdrew with a right-hip injury, organizers announced. The Australian Open champion was due to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in Thursday’s second set of quarterfinals after the Canadian halted Barcelona titlist Casper Ruud.

The world No. 2 had showed signs of discomfort in the area during his third-round win over Pavel Kotov, a match where he saved a set point to avoid going into a decider. Sinner addressed the problem as an ongoing issue in an on-court interview afterwards.

"I have been struggling a little bit with my right hip. We're trying to find a solution and I don't think it's anything serious. Sometimes I feel it more like today and some days are a little bit better," he said Monday.

Sinner would go on to battle past 16th seed Karen Khachanov, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, to up his season record to 28-2. He was looking to lift his fourth trophy of the year and first on clay since defeating Alcaraz in the 2022 Umag final.

Said Sinner in a social media statement, "Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid. My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful.

"Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse. I’ll be doing some more tests in the coming days and follow the advice from the specialists on recovery."

The 22-year-old now looks to be fully fit for his home Masters 1000 event in Rome, where his best showing was a quarterfinal effort in 2022. Sinner trails Novak Djokovic by 1,130 points for the No. 1 ranking going into that event.

Auger-Aliassime awaits the winner of No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev and 30th seed Jiri Lehecka, who ousted Rafael Nadal just after midnight Wednesday.