Rublev Rises To Alcaraz Challenge With Stunner, Fritz Wins; Sinner Withdraws From Madrid Masters

There will be no 3-peat for Carlos Alcaraz. Today, Andrey Rublev ended Alcaraz’s hopes of becoming the first player to win the Madrid Masters title three straight years with an impressive, near-flawless 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in just over two hours.

Alcaraz took care of the first set but then Rublev caught fire and never let up, crushing his serve and backhand, and whipping his forehand, all without the usual accompaniment of errors. The Russian tallied one of his best performances of his career in the win.

“I think the serve saved me a lot of times today,” Rublev said to the ATP. “I think the key was I was completely calm the whole match. I did not say one word, even if I was losing. That was the key and I was able to serve even better near the end. In the beginning, I was not serving that well but little by little, after set one, I served better and better and finished really well.”

Rublev had struggled coming in riding a 4-match losing streak. Now, he’s in his first semifinal since Dubai.

“When you start to think of how good everything is, then for six weeks I was not winning at all. So it is better to not think at all,” Rublev added. “That it is just a moment and it happens to everyone. Everyone has been through these moments and the most important thing is to keep working and keep improving.”

Alcaraz’s 14-match win streak ends, and with it a new Madrid men’s champion will be crowned.

“He was quite good today. His serve was unbelievable today,” Alcaraz stated. “He brought me a few opportunities in the match to break his serve. I couldn’t make it. That was the key of the match. But I think his game was outstanding today.

“I couldn’t push him to the limits in every ball, so I think he hit the ball in a good position every time,” he said. “And a player like Rublev, if he hits the ball in a good position, it’s almost impossible to make points, to beat him.”

In the night match, Taylor Fritz surprised Francisco Cerundolo with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to earn his first win over the Argentine.

The American lost just eight points on first serve and faced only two break points. He broke Cerundolo at 4-3 in the third and then served it out for his 250th career tour win.

“I returned really well in the first set, put a lot of balls in play,” Fritz said to the ATP. “To be honest he was making some mistakes so it made me look a lot better and I was finding some balls to attack on for sure. The second set and third set, I feel he got a lot more solid. He was not giving me anything for free and it was really hard to hit through him and find balls to attack on. He was getting the backhand through the court.

“It was tough to look for forehands. It was really tough from the ground but I just had to hang in the match with my serve and fight through some points even though I didn’t feel super comfortable. I took my chance when I got it.”

Tomorrow the last two quarters were scheduled but only one will be played — Daniil Medvedev vs Jiri Lehecka.

Top seed Jannik Sinner withdrew from his quarterfinal match against Felix Auger-Aliassime with a hip injury.

“Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid. My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful. Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse,” Sinner tweeted.

Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid. My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful. Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse. pic.twitter.com/QJX9WVA4Np

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) May 1, 2024

Sinner will now get ready for a monster event next week in Rome while Auger-Aliassime is in his third Masters semifinal, first since his Paris 2022 run.

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