Andrey Rublev turned pro in 2014 and has since won 15 titles in the 473 games of his career. He’s won 307 of these games. Taylor Fritz turned pro a year after Rublev and has since won seven titles in the 420 games of his career. He’s gone ahead to win 246 of these games.
While the Russian is currently ranked 8th in the world, the highest ATP ranking he has ever achieved has been 5th in the world. On the other hand, although Taylor Fritz is currently ranked 13th in the world, he’s once attained a career-high singles ranking of world number 5.
Taylor Fritz, who hails from California, is the highest-ranked American on the ATP tour while Andrey Rublev has his Russian compatriot, the world number 4, Daniil Medvedev, holding that crown for Russia.
Andrey Rublev’s 4th Win Over Taylor Fritz
25th ATP Tour final 🤟
Fifth in ATP Masters 1000s 👏@AndreyRublev97 reaches the silverware showdown with a 6-4, 6-3 masterclass@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/XSEOTcG2nf— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 3, 2024
The 2024 Madrid Open semifinal clash between the world numbers 8 and 13 was the ninth clash between the two since 2018 with Taylor Fritz winning five and Rublev winning four.
In a first game of the set littered with unforced errors from Andrey Rublev, a wild forehand from him handed Taylor Fritz the early break in the set. The next game was the exact opposite as the Russian broke back immediately.
The excellent combination of his forehand down the line, lightning-fast limbs down the court, and a cross-court backhand saw Andrey Rublev break the Californian’s serve in the 10th game of the first set to secure the set. With this, he was halfway towards Sunday’s final.
The battle between the two 26-year-olds continued in the second set until Rublev struck the line with an overhead shot in the sixth game of the set to break Fritz’s serve. He remained on serve and served out the set in an hour and 12 minutes to book a ticket to the fifth Masters 1000 final of his career.
Rublev And Fritz’s Masters 1000 Head-to-Head Record
Until the 2024 Madrid Open, Rublev and Fritz had faced each other five times in an ATP Masters 1000 match. Fritz had won four of those matches. The one time Rublev defeated Fritz at the ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo semifinal, he went on to defeat Holger Rune in the final to win the title.
In 2022, Taylor Fritz defeated Andrey Rublev in the semifinal of the Indian Wells Open before defeating Rafael Nadal in the final to win his first-ever ATP Masters 1000 title.
In the six Masters 1000 clashes between these top players, three of them have been in the semifinals, leading to both of them winning one title each in the corresponding final.
Although not in an ATP Masters 1000 match, the time these two met in the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, Andrey Rublev finished third after defeating Jaume Munar in the third-place match.
Rublev’s Madrid Open So Far
The Russian’s Madrid Open started in a relatively straightforward 6-1, 6-4 win over Facundo Bagnis. His tournament started off the back of four consecutive tour-level defeats.
In the second round, he struggled to overcome Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a long tie-break in the first set, before securing a break in the ninth game of the second set to serve out the set.
The next match with Tallon Griekspoor was more straightforward, with the match ending 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and four minutes. This set up the firecracker match with two-time champion and defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz.
Carlos Alcaraz took the first set in a routine victory but Andrey Rublev recovered in the second set to force a third set. He then broke Alcaraz in the first and fifth games of the third set and held on to his serve to win the match after one hour and 59 minutes, to turn a 3-game losing streak into a five-game winning streak.
Also Read: Daniil Medvedev’s Madrid Open Challenge Ended By Injury
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