Andrey Rublev Overcomes Luck-Filled Felix Auger-Aliassime To Win His Second Masters Title In Madrid

Andrey Rublev fought from a set down to overcome Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in 3 sets, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. It took 2 hours and 47 minutes for Rublev to come through to claim his 16th career title and second at the Masters-1000 level. Rublev entered the Madrid Open after four consecutive early exits at previous events. It was an incredible turnaround for him after the breakdown in Dubai. 

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Felix was looking to win his first Masters title in this final. His road to the final in Madrid was nothing but a bizarre and luck-filled one. He encountered 3 walkovers en-route to the finals as two of his opponents, Jakub Mensik (4th round) and Jiri Lehecka (semi-finals), retired mid-match due to injuries, and the last came from the top seed Jannik Sinner who had withdrawn from the quarterfinals due to the injury on his right hip. While it might have seem easy for Felix in Madrid, it cannot be denied that he picked up at least one decent win which came over the fifth seed Casper Ruud, who was in great form on clay. 

Felix came into the match on fire as he broke Rublev in the first game and for a second time in the fifth to lead 4-1, and ultimately rallied to win the first 6-4. The later sets tipped in the favour of the world no. 8, as he found the first serves that were such a weapon in his previous matches. Felix, unable to keep himself together, ended the third set with a double-fault while serving to stay in it. 

The men’s draw of the Madrid Open was injury plagued as we saw many players pulled out injured, including Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz. The champion himself, Rublev, revealed that he had played through the matches sick with fever in the last couple of days. The win in Madrid is said to be the proudest title he attained in his career thus far. The tour is now moving into the last Masters on clay in Rome before Roland Garros in Paris. I hope that the players can recover in time for the second Grand Slam of the year.