Reigning champion Andrey Rublev has crashed out of the Madrid Open. Last year, the Russian went on an incredible run to lift the trophy while dealing with an illness, and ended up in hospital for two days after his title win.
But he failed to repeat his heroics in 2025, suffering a shock third-round exit at the hands of Alexander Bublik. Rublev threw his racket in frustration after getting broken at the start of the deciding set and received a warning. That break proved crucial, and Bublik went on to seal a 6-4 0-6 6-4 victory.
Rublev’s title defence appeared to be in trouble when he lost the first set to the controversial Kazakh. But he regrouped and bagelled Bublik in the second set, racing through in 23 minutes to force a decider, and looked to be getting back on track.
However, Bublik is always an unpredictable opponent. And the world No. 75 locked back in at the beginning of the third set, breaking in the first game thanks to a double fault from Rublev.
The reigning champion has been known to let his emotions show on the court, though he seemed to be managing fine, but he finally lost his cool after hitting the double fault to hand Bublik an advantage and threw his racket down to the ground, receiving a code violation for racket abuse.
“Oh dear. That’s tough to see. Understandable given the topsy-turvy nature of this match. The unpredictability of his opponent,” commentator Lee Goodall said.
“It was looking like he was managing that element well but obviously frustrations have been bubbling away under the surface.”
Rublev accepted his warning and continued playing as usual, but he could never retrieve the early break. Bublik kept on rolling through his service games until he finally closed out the match, sending the 2024 winner packing.
As a result of his early exit, Rublev’s two-and-a-half-year stint inside the world’s top 10 will finally come to an end when the rankings are updated after the tournament.
After the match, Bublik admitted it was part of his game plan to disrupt Rublev’s rhythm and throw him off his game – something he clearly managed to do.
“I mean, I cannot outplay Andrey, we all know that. He’s an incredible athlete, he’s better than me in all the aspects if we talk about work,” the world No. 75 confessed.
“But I’m the creator, I’m the artist of certain things and for me it was important to keep him away from his work ethic and bring him into my field which worked perfectly this time.”
It worked even in the second set, in which Bublik failed to win a game. He threw in some underarm serves and gave Rublev a false sense of security that he had a hold on the match, then returned to his best in set three.
Bublik continued: “I had break points in the first game and then I lost my serve. Like I said, I can’t out-work the guy, I have to do something else.
“So I decided to just, you know, give away the set, refocus and try to bring my game again. So that really worked this time and I’m really, really happy about that.”
Now that he’s taking out the defending champion, Bublik was asked whether he could see himself winning a big tournament like the Madrid Open. “I guess nowadays most of the players are good enough but it’s more about being consistent for two weeks’ time,” he replied.
“When it was one week it was a bit better, but two weeks is a bit tough. But, I mean, you never know! But for me I don’t set up these kinds of goals, I just try to enjoy the tennis I play.
“For me, the most important is to keep playing because I was on the verge of quitting many, many times in my career. For me, if I’m standing here and smiling and winning a couple of matches, that’s already enough.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk