Madrid: Second seed Carlos Alcaraz saw the defense of his title and 14-match winning streak at the hands of Andrei Rublev in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, while top seed Jannik Sinner pulled out of the tournament citing a right hip injury.
Rublev beat home favorite Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals.
Seventh-seeded Rublev has lost his last five matches against top-three opponents and went 0-1 against fellow competitor Alcaraz.
Madrid is also on a four game losing streak at the Open.
In what seems like a distant memory against Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, Rublev extended his strong brand of tennis to stun the Spanish world number one and reach his seventh different Masters 1000 semi-final, nine in all.
Alcaraz missed clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona last month with a wrist injury and needed a third-set match to upset last year’s finalist Anne-Lennard Struff in the fourth round on Tuesday.
The inspired Rublev was unstoppable, and his bid to become the first man to win three consecutive Madrid titles was dashed.
Rublev, who now has at least one win, said: “I think the main match was one of the first matches, even if I lost, I didn’t say anything.” against each of the top 10 in the world today.
Alcaraz played a convincing first set, breaking serve in the fifth game for a 41-minute lead. But Rublev brought his A game to take the next two sets, hitting 30 winners en route to completing the match in just over two hours.
The American will face Taylor Fritz in the semifinals after defeating Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Alcaraz admits it’s been a positive week in Madrid overall, but he’s thinking about his wrist with pain or the lack of it.
“I feel more educated today than I did yesterday. I know after playing three hours yesterday that I’m going to feel something or think about it more.”
The two-time Grand Slam champion admitted that he had to be patient to recover and said: “I will go to Rome. Today I am working to be 100 percent or better. .”
The striker will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals on Thursday, but revealed he struggled with a hip problem in the Spanish capital this week.
“My shoulder has been bothering me this week and it is slowly getting worse. We have taken the advice of the doctor and decided not to play anymore and let it get worse,” Dosa said in a statement on social media.
The Italian has won 28 of his 30 matches so far this season, which has given him three titles at the Australian Open, Rotterdam and Miami.
Sinner will play next week at the Italian Open in Rome before launching his attack at the French Open, the second major of the season, which begins in Paris on May 26.
Alcaraz crashes, Sinner hobbles out of Madrid
