Nadal gets emotional after a loss in his last Madrid Open appearance. Alcaraz reaches quarterfinals

MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal had to pause for a few moments, visibly emotional, while addressing the crowd after his loss in the fourth round at the Madrid Open.

As chants of “Rafa, Rafa, Rafa” echoed around, the five-time champion in Madrid made a farewell speech following a 7-5, 6-4 loss Tuesday to the 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka.

It was likely his last official match at the tournament in the Spanish capital.

“This is a difficult day when it arrives, but it's a reality. My body and my life had been sending me signs for some time," Nadal said. “I was able to say goodbye playing on this court, one of the most emotional ones for me. Madrid at times has been more important to me than a Grand Slam. The memories here will stay with me forever.”

After the match, tournament organizers unfurled five banners for each of Nadal’s titles in Madrid — 2005, ‘10, ’13, ‘14 and ’17. They also showed a video of his highlights, as his wife and sister shed tears in the stands.

“It's been a gift what you've done for me during the 21 years that I've played here,” said the 37-year-old Nadal, a winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles. “All I can say is ‘thank you.’”

Nadal had not lost to a player ranked outside the top 20 on clay since falling to Pablo Cuevas in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro. He was seeking his 60th win in Madrid and the 100th ATP 1000 quarterfinal of his career.

Earlier, the player who Spanish fans hope will take over Nadal's reign, Carlos Alcaraz, needed nearly three hours to beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4).

Both Spaniards are coming off injuries and are trying to get back in shape ahead of next month's French Open. The 20-year-old Alcaraz missed tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. Nadal was coming off two matches in Barcelona after not playing competitively in nearly three months.

He arrived in Madrid saying he wasn't fully fit and was worried about his condition, but in the end he won three consecutive matches without showing significant physical limitations.

“Just two days before I left for Barcelona I really didn't know if I was going to be able to play again in an official match," Nadal said, "and in the end I've played two weeks.”

The second-seeded Alcaraz was coming off two comfortable victories in Madrid but struggled on Tuesday. He squandered four match points against the 24th-ranked Struff while serving at 5-3 but converted on his first opportunity in the deciding tiebreaker at the Caja Magica center court.

“I wasn’t at my best physically toward the end of the match, but I’m happy that in the end I found my game,” Alcaraz said. “I fought for every ball and didn’t let down despite some difficult moments when things didn’t go my way.”

Alcaraz is trying to become the first player to win three straight Madrid Open titles. He also needed three sets to beat Struff in last year's final. The world No. 3 will next face seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev at the clay-court tournament.

Top-seeded Jannick Sinner defeated 16th-seeded Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Madrid quarterfinals for the first time. He is the only player to make it to the quarterfinals at all four ATP 1000 events this season.

“I made a couple of mistakes in the first set when he broke me, but this can happen," Sinner said. "In the second set I tried to stay focused. Immediately, I broke him, and the confidence level raised a bit."

SWIATEK RALLIES

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek rallied for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the semifinals for a second straight year.

After letting a 4-1 lead slip to drop the first set, Swiatek regained control in the second and third sets.

She will next face 18th-seeded American Madison Keys, who overcame eighth-seeded Ons Jabeur 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 after losing the first eight games of the match.

The Madrid Open is the only high-profile European clay tournament that Swiatek is yet to win.

MEDVEDEV ADVANCES

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev was given the run around by Alexander Bublik before winning 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance into a match against Lehecka.

“A lot of drop shots, and I got so tired in the end running for them,” Medvedev said. “That's when you lose your concentration and you start to play a bit worse. But after the match he told me he was dead also. So, good for me, at least I was not the only one.”

World No. 8 Rublev advanced 6-2, 6-4 over Tallon Griekspoor and No. 22 Francisco Cerundolo upset two-time champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Taylor Fritz, a 7-6 (2), 6-4 winner over Hubert Hurkacz.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Jiri Lehecka, of Czech Republic, returns a ball to Rafael Nadal of Spain, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jiri Lehecka, of Czech Republic, competes against Rafael Nadal of Spain, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns the ball to Jiri Lehecka, of Czech Republic, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Jan-Lennard Struff, of Germany, returns a ball to Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, celebrates against Jan-Lennard Struff, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, returns the ball to Jan-Lennard Struff, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, returns the ball to Jan-Lennard Struff, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, celebrates against Jan-Lennard Struff, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, reacts during a match against Jiri Lehecka, of Czech Republic, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Borna Coric, of Croatia, competes against Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Borna Coric, of Croatia, celebrates a point against Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Alexander Zverev, of Germany, returns the ball to Francisco Cerundolo, of Argentina, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

On the left, Alexander Zverev, of Germany, shakes hands with Francisco Cerundolo, of Argentina, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Beatriz Haddad Maia, of Brazil, reacts during a match against Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns the ball to Beatriz Haddad Maia, of Brazil, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, celebrates against Beatriz Haddad Maia, of Brazil, during the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul White)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's lawyers accused the star prosecution witness in his hush money trial of lying to jurors, portraying Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen on Thursday as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind bars.

As Trump looked on, defense attorney Todd Blanche pressed Cohen for hours with questions that focused as much on his misdeeds as on the case's specific allegations and tried to sow doubt in jurors’ minds about Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president.

Blanche's voice rose as he interrogated Cohen with phone records and text messages over Cohen's claim that he spoke by phone to Trump about the hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels that is at the heart of the case, days before wiring her lawyer $130,000.

Blanche said that was a lie, confronting Cohen with texts indicating that what was on his mind, at least initially, during the phone call were harassing calls he was getting from an apparent 14-year-old prankster. Cohen said he believed he also spoke to Trump about the Daniels deal.

“We are not asking for your belief. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened,” Blanche said, his voice growing even louder, prompting an objection from the prosecutor.

The heated moment was the crescendo of defense cross-examination over two days designed to portray Cohen — a onetime Trump loyalist who has become one of his biggest foes — as a media-obsessed opportunist who turned on the former president after he was denied a White House job.

Whether the defense is successful in undermining Cohen's testimony could determine Trump's fate in the case. Over the course of the trial's fourth week of testimony, Cohen described for jurors meetings and conversations he said he had with Trump about the alleged scheme to stifle stories about sex that threatened to torpedo Trump's 2016 campaign.

Prosecutors have tried to blunt the defense attacks on their star witness by getting him to acknowledge at the outset his past crimes, including a guilty plea for lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia.

But the cross-examination underscored the risk of prosecutors' reliance on Cohen, who was peppered repeatedly with questions about his criminal history and past lies. Cohen also testified that he lied under oath when he pleaded guilty to federal charges, including tax fraud, in 2018.

“It was a lie? Correct?” Blanche asked Cohen about whether he lied to the late U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III at a court hearing about not feeling pressured into pleading guilty.

“Correct,” Cohen said.

The defense also attacked Cohen’s motivations and elicited testimony designed to support the defense’s argument that the Daniels deal was essentially a shakedown of Trump, rather than a plot to keep voters in the dark. Cohen acknowledged telling a former prosecutor that he felt Daniels and her lawyer were extorting Trump in seeking the $130,000 payment to keep quiet about her claim of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.

“Yes, I recall making a statement like that … that they were extorting Mr. Trump,” Cohen told jurors.

He's by far prosecutors' most important witness, placing Trump directly at the center of the alleged scheme to silence women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump. Trump denies the women’s claims. Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about behind-the-scenes efforts to bury potentially detrimental stories.

Cohen also matters because the reimbursements he received form the basis of 34 felony counts charging Trump with falsifying business records. Prosecutors say the reimbursements were logged, falsely, as legal expenses to conceal the payments’ true purpose.

Trump, who insists the prosecution is an effort to damage his campaign to reclaim the White House, says the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses because Cohen was a lawyer. The defense has suggested that he was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by squelching what he says were false, scurrilous claims.

“The crime is that they’re doing this case,” Trump told reporters Thursday before entering the courtroom, flanked by a group of congressional allies that included Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.; and Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., the chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.

The hard-right Republican lawmakers stood outside the courthouse and railed against a “kangaroo court” and the case, amplifying the former president’s attacks on the judicial system as they were heckled but also cheered by the crowd. The former president has been joined at the courthouse in recent days by a slew of conservative supporters, including some considered potential vice presidential picks and others angling for future administration roles.

Among those at the courthouse Thursday were Republican members of the House Oversight Committee, which delayed a hearing on an effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress so the lawmakers could appear alongside Trump in Manhattan.

Blanche confronted Cohen with profane social media posts, a podcast and books he wrote about the former president, getting Cohen to acknowledge that he has made millions of dollars off slamming Trump. In one clip played in court Thursday, Cohen could be heard using an expletive and saying he truly hopes “that this man ends up in prison.”

“It won’t bring back the year that I lost or the damage done to my family. But revenge is a dish best served cold,” Cohen was heard saying. “You better believe that I want this man to go down.”

Cohen acknowledged he has continued to attack Trump, even during the trial.

In one social media post cited by the defense attorney, Cohen called Trump an alliterative and explicit nickname, as well as an “orange-crusted ignoramus.” Asked if he used the phrase, Cohen responded: “Sounds correct.”

Cohen — prosecutors' final witness, at least for now — is expected to return to the witness stand Monday. The trial will take Friday off so Trump can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has said it will rest its case once Cohen is done on the stand, though it could have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump's lawyers put on witnesses of their own.

The defense isn't obligated to call any witnesses, and it's unclear whether the attorneys will do so. Trump’s lawyers have said they may call Bradley A. Smith, a Republican who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the Federal Election Commission, to refute the prosecution’s contention that the hush money payments amounted to campaign-finance violations. Defense lawyers said they have not decided whether Trump will testify.

Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump addresses reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Former President Donald Trump walks over to addresses reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)

Michael Cohen departs his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. The prosecutors’ star witness in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump is returning to the witness stand as defense lawyers try to chip away at Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)

Michael Cohen departs his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. The prosecutors’ star witness in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump is returning to the witness stand as defense lawyers try to chip away at Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., left, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., listen as former President Donald Trump speaks to the press before his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Michael Cohen departs his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. The prosecutors’ star witness in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump is returning to the witness stand as defense lawyers try to chip away at Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

FILE- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, and attorney Michael Cohen, left, during a visit to the Pastors Leadership Conference at New Spirit Revival Center, Sept. 21, 2016, in Cleveland. Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Tuesday, testifying in detail how former president was linked to all aspects of a hush money scheme that prosecutors say was aimed at stifling stories that threatened his 2016 campaign. Trump is the first former U.S. president to go on trial. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

FILE- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, and attorney Michael Cohen, right, during a visit to the Pastors Leadership Conference at New Spirit Revival Center, Sept. 21, 2016, in Cleveland. Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Tuesday, testifying in detail how former president was linked to all aspects of a hush money scheme that prosecutors say was aimed at stifling stories that threatened his 2016 campaign. Trump is the first former U.S. president to go on trial. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

Michael Cohen testifies as a Wall Street Journal article is displayed on a screen in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. Donald Trump's fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Tuesday, testifying in detail how former president was linked to all aspects of a hush money scheme that prosecutors say was aimed at stifling stories that threatened his 2016 campaign. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building in New York, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Cohen, former President Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is returning to the witness stand for a bruising round of questioning from the former president’s lawyers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)