Madrid Open: Rublev ends Alcaraz streak to reach semis

Andrey Rublev earned the biggest win of his season on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he ended two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz’s quest for a historic third consecutive title at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The seventh seed opened his shoulders and played with belief throughout the quarter-final clash to oust the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after two hours and one minute.

“I think the serve saved me a lot of times today,” Rublev said. “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.”

With his 19th tour-level victory of the season, Rublev improved to 8-10 against Top 3 opponents. His most recent Top 3 win before Wednesday came at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2022 against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Having dropped just one set in Madrid, Rublev will meet Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in his eighth ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.