This isn’t entirely a surprise… but not far off. Andrey Rublev, 8th player in the world, won the Masters 1000 in Madrid this Sunday after a stunning and hotly contested final against Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (4-6, 7-5, 7-5). If his ranking shows that he is one of the best players on the circuit, the Russian has been going through a bad patch in recent weeks. After his disqualification in the semi-final in Dubai at the beginning of March for yelling at a linesman, he experienced a dark streak, exiting in the first round in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. But everything turned around this week in the Spanish capital.
Beating Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday in the quarter-final (4-6, 6-3, 6-3), the 26-year-old confirmed this by winning his 16th title on the ATP circuit this Sunday. He won his first Masters 1000 last year in Monte-Carlo, already on clay. Faced with Auger-Aliassime, who took advantage of a withdrawal and two withdrawals to reach the final, nothing was easy.
Rublev’s catastrophic start
It’s an understatement to say that the Russian had a bad start in his final. Looking haggard, he was initially absent from the debates, totally dominated in the exchange by “FAA” who even obtained three 5-1 balls. But Rublev then recovered to win the game while the Quebecer led 40-0 on his serve. That’s when the finale really began. The 8th player in the world dismissed a first set point to keep his serve at 5-3, but it was Auger-Aliassime who won the first set in 48 minutes.
The start of the second set was much more balanced, with both players not letting up on their serve until 5-5. We seemed to be heading straight for a tie-break but Rublev tightened the game at 6-5 for him, on his opponent’s serve, to win at the best of times and offer himself a decisive third set.
Auger-Aliassime breaks down at the end of the match
After a shutout at the start of the last set, the Russian obtained two break points in the following game which turned into a standoff between the two players. He still had chances two games later, getting two 3-1 balls. Then a new opportunity at 4-3, saved again by Auger-Aliassime determined to sell his skin dearly. Rublev, for his part, did not tremble in his service games and the fifth break point – which was also a match point – was the right one, on a double fault from his opponent.
Getting off to a bad start in the match, the Russian considerably raised his level of play in the last round. His emotions which so often fail him sometimes seemed on the verge of overwhelming him but he held on to win after 2h48 of effort.
The suspense for Roland-Garros has rarely been so high, three weeks before the start of the Parisian Grand Slam. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have both withdrawn from the Masters 1000 in Rome next week (May 8 to 19). World number one Novak Djokovic has only played four tournaments this season (for no title). As for Rafael Nadal, he is slowly returning to the level. Titled this Sunday, Rublev just wants to join the fight with the favorites.
