Rublev will fight for the Madrid Cup | ATP Tour

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Rublev will compete for the cup in Madrid

In the final he will play against Auger-Aliassime or Leechka.

May 03, 2024

Author: ATPTour.com/es staff

Few players wield the ball as energetically as Andrey Rublev, who cruised to the fifth ATP Masters 1000 final of his career at the Mutua Madrid Open this Friday. The heights of the Spanish capital provided fertile ground for his right-hander, an unstoppable strike in one of the dressing room’s most coveted tournaments.

The world number eight defeated American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 in a show of mettle at the Manolo Santana Stadium. Having defeated reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round, signing a match of great moral resistance, Andrey showed that he was ready to take a step forward on the track.

To earn a spot in the Caja Mágica final, Rublev had to keep himself under control during a chaotic start to the match. The seventh number made his first move and responded with a calm match, becoming an insurmountable wall for the American. Rublev returned the break in the next game and did not lose serve throughout the match.

“I started the match quite tensely,” admitted Rublev. “I missed a couple of opportunities, missed a couple of easy shots. But this is part of the sport. When he broke my serve, I told myself we were at the start of the game. If I had been able to do a long approach, perhaps he would have started to feel less comfortable,” Rublev said. “I managed to recover the break and the match was level.”

Andrey faces a test of endurance in Madrid as the player to beat. In a tournament where he was the only player in the top 10, Rublev took favoritism by drawing one of the strongest duels of the tournament en route to the final round. His experience of playing in very important matches, with a total of 25 individual finals in his career, will be an extremely valuable boost in the fight for the cup.

“Mentally I’m having a good tournament,” explained Rublev, who barely managed to win back a piece on his way to the final. “I channel my energy in the right direction, without this I would not have been able to reach the finals.” »

After winning the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last season, Rublev is chasing the second ATP Masters 1000 title of his career at the Caja Mágica. Fernando Vicente’s graduate, who lifted the Hong Kong trophy in the first week of the year, is bidding for his second crown in the 2024 season. Rublev has a 15-9 record in ATP Tour finals.

Now with the opportunity to pull off one of the greatest feats of his career, Rublev will compete in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open against the winner of the bout, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Czech Jiri Lehecky – two players without an ATP Tour gold crown. A horizon that Andrei watches with the greatest respect.

“Felix is ​​a top-10 player and last year he wasn’t able to compete too much. He’s playing better and better. We faced each other at the beginning of the season and he almost beat me. And in the last match I played with Lehka, he destroyed me in Indian Wells in two sets. “I never look at the rankings because I know the players and I know what they can achieve.”

Fritz leaves the Mutua Madrid Open after confirming his height on clay. The American, who reached his first surface final in Munich a few weeks ago, was on the verge of challenging for his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy on clay.

Did you know…?
Andrey Rublev will try to become the sixth active player to win multiple ATP Masters 1000 titles on clay. The PIF ATP ranking number 8, last season’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion, could follow in the footsteps of the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz.