the second half-male lasts half an hour and ends with withdrawal | Relief

It’s as if someone has jinxed the Mutua Madrid Open. Following the departure of Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev in recent days, The second men’s semi-final between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jiri Legecka lasted only half an hour. and it ended with the Czech dropping out due to a back injury.

Lechecka, Rafael Nadal’s executioner in the 1/8 finals, He was playing his first Masters 1000 semi-final against Aliassime when a blockage in his back caused him to throw in the towel. The Czech noticed something in the first games of the match and when the score was 3:3, he turned to a physiotherapist for help.

After three minutes of medical attention in the locker room Lehecka returned to Manolo Santana’s court and tried to continue, but could only get back a couple of points. Eventually he got tired on the ground and thenand he marched to the applause of a center court packed to the brim. He was so angry that he even broke his racket on the ground.

The men’s final of the Mutua Madrid Open will be played by Aliassim and Andrey Rublev on Sunday., who previously beat Taylor Fritz 6-4 and 6-3. It will be a completely unexpected ending a consequence of the series of catastrophic failures that plagued the tournament: First Novak Djokovic was eliminated, then Sinner withdrew before the quarter-final match, Medvedev was eliminated in the same round, and, in addition, no Spaniard reached the semi-finals. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz lost in the quarterfinals, while Rafael Nadal had a bye in the round of 16..

The women’s draw has the best final yet: Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka will meet for the title this Saturday.