Rafael Jodar Keeps Rising as Montreal Run Puts Top 10 Within Reach

Rafael Jodar is turning a promising first season into something extraordinary. The 19-year-old Spaniard advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on Tuesday, defeating Arthur Fils 7-6(5), 6-3 at the National Bank Open in Montreal and moving to the doorstep of the world’s top 10.

The quarter-final was far from straightforward though. Jodar led 5-4 in the opening set when rain forced a delay of about an hour. He returned to close out the tiebreak and then recovered after dropping an early break in the second set. Jodar converted four of 12 break points and finished with solid serving numbers, landing 65 percent of his first serves and winning 78 percent of those points. It was his second victory over Fils this season, improving their head-to-head to 2-1 after an earlier win in Washington.

“I knew that I was doing things right,” Jodar said afterward. “I think he played a good game when he broke my serve in the fourth game of the second set. I was just trying to [play] my game and see what happened. That worked perfectly today, and I stayed very calm during those important pressure moments of the match.

“It wasn’t going to be easy, and I knew that even going a set and a break up. The match was not finished, because Arthur always gives his best until the finish.”

The result made Jodar the first player born in 2006 or later to reach the last four at a Masters 1000 event. It also marked his fourth ATP Tour semi-final of 2026, following runs in Marrakech, Barcelona and Washington. He now sits at No. 11 in the live rankings, up from a starting point of No. 168 at the beginning of the year, and could climb as high as No. 9 if he wins the title in Canada.

It’s not unusual for a player to burst on to the circuit with a breakthrough week or two. But what stands out is how consistently Jodar has produced these results. Twelve months ago he was ranked outside the top 500. Since April he has reached at least the quarter-finals in seven of eight tournaments.

The list of achievements is already substantial, even for a seasoned player: a first ATP title in Marrakech, a semi-final in Barcelona, back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals in Madrid and Rome (including a first top-10 win over Alex de Minaur), a French Open quarter-final where he pushed world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, a final in Washington after victories over Lorenzo Musetti and Jiri Lehecka, and now a Masters semi-final in Montreal.

He is the youngest player currently inside the top 100 of the ATP rankings. In his first 50 ATP Tour matches (excluding team events) he holds a 35-13 record, the best among teenagers in history. Only Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz previously reached three consecutive Masters quarter-finals as teenagers. Jodar has matched that mark.

Another record is close. Boris Becker set the mark in 1985 for the shortest time between entering the top 100 and reaching the top 10: 210 days. If Jodar wins in Montreal he would do it in just 140 days. Even without the title, further points in Cincinnati or at the US Open could still put the record under serious pressure.

Through it all Jodar has kept his coaching circle close. His father, who first put a racket in his hand at age four, remains in the box every week.

“I really appreciate that he travels with me every week. It means a lot to me. He started teaching me tennis when I was four years old, and ever since I was young, he reminded me every day to play tennis just for fun. That was the main goal. I’m very grateful to him, especially for that philosophy,” Jodar said last week in Washington.

The tennis landscape has shifted since the long dominance of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Sinner and Alcaraz currently sit at the top. Jodar’s rapid rise has sparked the inevitable questions about whether a third name can join them. While Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik, Learner Tien, and others have been touted as potential challengers, it’s Jodar who may have overtaken all of them in just 7 months.

At 19, with a title, multiple deep runs at the biggest events and a ranking trajectory that has already carried him from outside the top 500 to the edge of the top 10, he is answering those questions with results rather than projections.

Standing between him and a first Masters final is Brandon Nakashima, who reached his own maiden Masters semi-final by beating Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-3. Nakashima, the oldest of the eight quarter-finalists in an unusually young draw, is also climbing the rankings and will face Jodar for the first time.

Whatever happens from here, the Spaniard has already got a strong claim on the story of the season. His climb continues, shows no sign of slowing down, and the tennis world is watching closely to see just how high he can go.

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