Alexander Zverev lost in the fourth round of the 2025 Madrid Masters on Tuesday (April 29), going out to 20th-seeded Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets. During the match, the German was flustered by a decision made by the electronic line-calling system for the second consecutive time in as many days.
Zverev started his Round-of-16 outing against Cerundolo on Tuesday on a good note, holding serve in his first five games. The top seed blinked at the most inopportune moment, dropping his service game at 5-6 down to drop the opening set. The 28-year-old was then broken early in the second set as his Argentinian opponent secured a 7-5, 6-3 victory to reach the last eight in Madrid.
Seemingly perturbed by how the match was transpiring, Alexander Zverev let his emotions get the better of him when Francisco Cerundolo won the first game of the second set on serve. At 40-15, the World No. 19 hit a down-the-T first serve that was called in by the electronic line judge. Zverev, however, was sure that the serve was long. He subsequently became livid at the call while gesturing at what he believed to be the ball mark outside the deuce court’s service box.
Since the umpire cannot overrule the electronic line calls, the World No. 2 surrendered the game and proceeded to complain about the call while walking towards his seat during the changeover. For what it’s worth, he had also been at odds with the electronic line-calling during his previous match at Caja Magica.
“There’s no chance that ball can be anywhere near the line!” Alexander Zverev told the chair umpire after the dubious electronic line call during his Madrid Open 4R match.
Unfortunately, Alexander Zverev’s outburst cost him in the following game. The two-time Madrid Open champion had clearly lost his composure, dropping his own serve to trail 0-2 in the second set. It was one-way traffic from that point onwards as Cerundolo completed his third career win in their rivalry
