World number three Daniil Medvedev exited in the last 16 following a 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1 defeat by 16th seed Cristian Garin of Chile. Medvedev had won his first match in Madrid in his third appearance on Wednesday, but the Russian was sent packing by an opponent far more at ease on clay.
The two-time Grand Slam runner-up heads to Rome next. He has never won a match in the Italian capital, and he has failed to get past the first round of the French Open in four previous tries. Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over in-form Russian Aslan Karatsev.
Barty cruised into the women’s final with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Badosa, as the world number one avenged last month’s loss to the Spaniard in Charleston. Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, is targeting a fourth title of the year following her wins at Melbourne’s Yarra Valley Classic, in Miami and on clay in Stuttgart.
The top seed shaded a tight opening set against the 62nd-ranked Badosa, the first Spanish woman in the tournament’s 12-year history to make the semi-finals. She converted her third set point when Badosa doubled faulted at 4-5, a single break of serve proving decisive for the Australian.
Barty dropped serve herself to start the second set but broke twice in succession to regain control and make it 16 straight wins on red clay. She will play fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Saturday’s final.