Carlos Alcaraz saw his hopes of a hat-trick of titles at the Madrid Open ended in stunning fashion by Andrey Rublev on Wednesday.
Rublev earned the biggest win of his career on clay by defeating Alcaraz 4-6 6-3 6-2 under the roof of Manolo Santana Stadium.
The seventh seed struck 30 winners and frequently stepped inside the baseline to rush the Spaniard, who was below-par following his fourth-round battle against Jan-Lennard Struff.
"I can't believe that I was able to stay calm throughout the match. I didn't say a word and even I'm impressed by that," 10-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist Rublev told Sky Sports Tennis.
"I want to believe that I have been working on this because if not then I'm stupid. After so many years, to not improve on this would mean that something is wrong with my head. I just thought to myself to keep trying, keep fighting, keep believing in yourself.
"I just wanted to go for it and thought maybe I will have more break points and in the end, I was able to return well and break him. It gave me confidence and go for it and little by little I was able to do it.
"The atmosphere was crazy and it was nice to play here."
Rublev earned the biggest win of his career on clay by defeating Alcaraz 4-6 6-3 6-2 under the roof of Manolo Santana Stadium.
The seventh seed struck 30 winners and frequently stepped inside the baseline to rush the Spaniard, who was below-par following his fourth-round battle against Jan-Lennard Struff.
"I can't believe that I was able to stay calm throughout the match. I didn't say a word and even I'm impressed by that," 10-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist Rublev told Sky Sports Tennis.
"I want to believe that I have been working on this because if not then I'm stupid. After so many years, to not improve on this would mean that something is wrong with my head. I just thought to myself to keep trying, keep fighting, keep believing in yourself.
"I just wanted to go for it and thought maybe I will have more break points and in the end, I was able to return well and break him. It gave me confidence and go for it and little by little I was able to do it.
"The atmosphere was crazy and it was nice to play here."
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