Alexander Zverev's quest for a third Madrid Open crown came to an end with a surprise last-16 defeat to Francisco Cerundolo.

The top seed lost for a third time out of three against Cerundolo, who was fully deserving of his 7-5 6-3 victory in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.

World number 21 Cerundolo will now face Jakub Mensik for a place in the semi-finals, with Taylor Fritz the highest seed remaining.

Zverev entered this tournament on the back of winning the Munich Open, but Cerundolo was on top from the off.

The first set looked to be going to a tie-break, but Cerundolo broke his opponent in the 12th game on his second break point.

Cerundolo broke Zverev – winner here in 2018 and 2021 – again in the second game of the second set and superbly held on to claim victory.

3 - Alexander Zverev is the third opponent against whom Francisco Cerundolo has registered three wins without a loss at ATP level after Mackenzie Mcdonald and Francisco Comesana. Dominate. #MMOpen | @MutuaMadridOpen @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/HQQluLRCvF

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) April 29, 2025

Mensik now awaits after defeating Alexander Bublik 6-3 6-2 earlier in the day for his ninth straight ATP Masters 1000 win.

The 19-year-old is only the fifth teenager ever to reach the quarters of this competition, with Carlos Alcaraz the most recent in 2022.

Jack Draper also advanced to the last eight on Tuesday, meanwhile, after Matteo Berrettini was forced to retire from their matchup.

Data Dive: Cerundolo ends Zverev's streak

Cerundolo has only registered three wins without defeat against three different opponents, with Mackenzie McDonald and Francisco Comesana being the other two.

It is the second successive year in Madrid that the Argentinian has knocked out Zverev, who had been on a seven-match winning run.

Cerundolo was good value for this win, saving the only break point he faced as he joined Arthur Fils as the only two men to reach three ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals this season.