Looking ahead to Madrid's wildcard prospects, Huang Zelin may win the Masters again

Time flies by and tomorrow the Madrid Masters will kick off the main event, the first co-ed clay tournament of the 2025 season. "The Chinese Sava" Wang Xinyu's match kicks off tomorrow, and the beautiful Chinese girl will face Greece's Sakkari in the first round. However, time has passed, and Sakkari's 2025 season has not been satisfactory, and she has not even been able to reach the semi-finals of the tour, and the world ranking has dropped to outside the top 80. It is believed that Wang Xinyu should be able to overcome her opponent and claim her first clay tour victory of the 2025 season. There will also be a number of wildcard players at the Madrid Masters. So, who are these wild card players? What are their prospects for qualifying? Today, let the humble article take you to see it.

Spanish veteran Busta, who has reached the semifinals of the US Open twice and won the Masters, will face Portugal's Borges in the first round. In the 2025 season, Busta, who has suffered repeated defeats on the tour, has won 10 consecutive Challenger tournaments and gained some confidence. However, the good times were short-lived, and in the subsequent tournaments, Busta still struggled to win. And in the challenge tournament, he also failed to reach the semi-finals. Borges, on the other hand, has reached the semi-finals of both the Tour and Challenger tournaments in the 2025 season, and is ranked more than 50 places higher than Busta in the world. Against such a player across the net, Busta may not be able to escape the fate of defeat.

Former US Open champion Cilic faced France's Bonzi in the first round, and after losing in three sets in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 Dubai Open to former US Open semi-finalist Aliassime of Canada, Cilic moved on to the Challenger Tournament. So far, he has reached the Challenger finals twice and also won a Challenger title. And this is also the first time in 17 years that Cilic has won the Challenge Championship again. As for Bonzi's performance in the last 32 of the Australian Open, both on the tour and in the Challenger tournaments, he even suffered a wave of four consecutive defeats during this period. In this match, both the bookies and the fans believe that Cilic is more likely to win. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?

Hong Kong's Wong Chak Lam and Italy's Chyna will face each other in the first round, and coincidentally, they are both playing as wild cards. Since 2023, Wong Chak Lam has been making breakthroughs for Hong Kong men's tennis in the Hope Tournament, Challenger Tournament, Tour Tournament, and Grand Slam tournaments. Some time ago, he reached the third round of the Miami Masters, and this is the first time that Huang Zelin has won two consecutive victories at the Masters. As for Chyna, he also made a career breakthrough in the 2025 season, also earning his first career tour win at the Miami Masters, and Chyna became the first post-07 player to win on the tour. However, with far less experience in tournaments than Huang Zelin and a far lower world ranking than Huang, it may be difficult for Chyna to beat Huang. After beating Shelton, who has reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam twice, Huang Zelin's confidence has been boosted to a certain extent, and he should be able to overcome his opponent in this matchup.

Spain's Landaluse faced Great Britain's Norrie in the first round, and although Landaluse has won the Challenger tournament and competed in Grand Slam tournaments, he has suffered a six-game losing streak since the Australian Open. As for Norrie, although he has also suffered a wave of four consecutive defeats and the world ranking has fallen to the edge of the TOP100, however, it should not be a problem to deal with this fledgling hairy boy.

Sports is a river and lake, and tennis is also a river and lake. I hope my article can bring some fresh information to all fans. Whether it's compliments or criticisms, maybe it's just to be able to get me far. That's it for today, and it continues tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)