(Madrid) World No.8 Andrey Rublev, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, qualified for his first final at the Masters 1000 in Madrid by dominating the American Taylor Fritz (13e) 6-4, 6-3 in 71 minutes Friday.
The second semi-final in the evening pits the young Czech Jiri Lehecka (31e), him defeating Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 for the Spanish icon’s last participation in the Madrid tournament, to the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (35e).
Rublev, the highest ranked player in the last four, reached the fifth Masters 1000 final of his career, at age 26. He has only won one so far, in Monte-Carlo in 2023 (against Rune).
Broken from the start of the match by Fritz, the Russian immediately responded and equalized at 1 all. A break at 5 games to 4 in the first set, then another to escape 4 games to 2 in the second set were then enough for him to win.
His journey to the Madrid final already ensures that he will climb to seventh place in the world in the ATP rankings on Monday. If he wins on Sunday, he will even become world No.6, one place behind the best ranking of his career, reached in September 2021.