With less than 24 hours of rest after his tough victory against Jan-Lennard Struff, Carlos Alcaraz will fight this Wednesday for a place in the semifinals of the Madrid Open against the Russian Andrey Rublev (16:00, M+ and TDP), 26 years old and 8th in the world, in a duel that only occurred in last year’s ATP Finals with the Spanish triumph. In the Caja Mágica, Rublev has managed to get out of the hole he got into in March, when he was disqualified in Dubai for obscene language against a lineman.
From Indian Wells, the tournament after the disqualification, the Russian won in his debut and, after that, he chained four consecutive defeats (Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Barcelona) until stopping the bleeding in Madrid, where he reached the quarterfinals after beating to Griekspoor 6-4 and 6-2. This Wednesday, he hopes to attack Alcaraz at home. “Carlos, at this moment, is one of the best players. He will be difficult in his house, he has won here the last two years. I hope he has a little pressure, because when you win two years in a row it becomes more complicated since you want to win more. In our first match he beat me quite easily, I will try to fight and, at least, have a better match,” said the Russian in the mixed zone.
In the Caja Mágica, Rublev has three consecutive wins for the first time since the Australian Open, and he is confident that this will be the turning point he longed for. “I feel that, if I continue playing this way like I am doing now, obviously there will be better and better weeks,” he says, relieved after leaving a tough period behind. “It’s hard to say because you can never say those things in advance, I was playing very well at the beginning of the season and suddenly something happened, so you never know. It is important to keep in mind what you need to continue working on. And even if you have a couple of bad weeks, one week can change everything.”
By ranking, the Russian will be Alcaraz’s great test in this Madrid Open. A victory for the Murcian over the winner of a Masters 1,000 (Monte Carlo 2023) would make him add his 15th consecutive victory in the Spanish capital, and thus break the tie with the Balearic player in the best streak in the history of the tournament. Big words for a tennis player four days away from turning 21, but Carlitos already admitted after beating Struff that his objectives in Madrid have changed, and that he now thinks “about winning the title.” Rublev is his most immediate impediment in that mission. “He is a great player, he has great tennis, very aggressive. We are going to fight for it, to try to get our best tennis. I have already played with him once, I have seen him and I have trained with him. I know how to play him, but it will be complicated and I will have to take advantage of the few opportunities he is going to give me. I played for three hours, I finished later, the recovery time is not the same, but once we are on the court that is forgotten. We entered as if it were the first game to give everything to ourselves.”
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