{"id":389840,"date":"2024-05-01T22:37:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T22:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389840"},"modified":"2024-05-02T01:05:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T01:05:22","slug":"injury-scare-as-alcaraz-upset-at-madrid-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389840","title":{"rendered":"Injury scare as Alcaraz upset at Madrid Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz's<\/a> bid to win a third straight Madrid Open<\/a> title ended with a three-set loss to Andrey Rublev<\/a> in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

The second-seeded Spaniard got off to a good start but then was outplayed by the seventh-seeded Rublev, losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Caja Magica centre court.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz, who had already struggled in a three-set win over Jan-Lennard Struff, looked out of sorts and was mistake-prone toward the end.<\/p>\n

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It was his first tournament after missing Monte Carlo and Barcelona because of a right forearm injury. The 20-year-old Alcaraz had arrived in Madrid saying he would be happy to play three or four matches in the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n

Already in a hole in the third set, Alcaraz pressed the forearm during a stopover. He was wearing a long sleeve over the injured arm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cToday probably I felt more in the forearm than yesterday\u2019s match. I mean, playing three hours yesterday, I knew that I\u2019m going to feel something or I\u2019m going to think about it even more,\u201d the third-ranked Alcaraz said. \u201cPlaying someone like Rublev that I couldn\u2019t push him to the limit in every point is tough."<\/p>\n

Alcaraz plans to play in Rome to continue his preparation for the French Open later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to go to Rome. I\u2019m going to work to be close to 100 per cent or in a good way to play Rome, but I\u2019m going to decide these days. But I think I\u2019ll be OK," he said. \u201cI have to work hard if I want to go to Rome with good feelings, without pain, without thinking about my forearm, but it\u2019s going to be a slow process, I guess. I have to be patient in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz was trying to become the first player to win the clay-court tournament three straight times. He hadn\u2019t lost on Spanish soil since 2021.<\/p>\n

Rublev, seeking his second ATP 1000 title after winning Monte Carlo last year, will play either Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheTennisLetter\/status\/1785708062206202116?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The world No.8 was solid from the start and overpowered Alcaraz with 30 winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe serve saved me a lot of times today,\u201d Rublev said. \u201cThe key was I was completely calm the whole match. I did not say one word, even if I was losing. That was the key and I was able to serve even better near the end. In the beginning, I was not serving that well but little by little, after set one, I served better and better and finished really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top-seeded Jannik Sinner withdrew because of a hip injury, saying he didn't want to risk making it worse. Sinner defeated Karen Khachanov and was scheduled to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Meantime, \ufeffdefending champion Aryna Sabalenka defeated 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva for the second straight year in Madrid to reach the women's semi-finals.<\/p>\n

The second-seeded Sabalenka didn't face a break point on her way to a 6-1, 6-4 win in the quarter-finals. She had beaten the teenage sensation in straight sets in the fourth round last year.<\/p>\n

The two-time Australian Open champion has won 10 straight matches in Madrid and is trying to match Petra Kvitova's three titles in the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka will next play fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina, who saved two match points en route to a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Yulia Putintseva.<\/p>\n

The 2022 Wimbledon champion rallied while trailing 5-2 in the third set. Rybakina also trailed by an early break in the second set.<\/p>\n

Rybakina has won eight matches in a row and has a tour-leading 30-4 record this season. She has 16 straight clay wins and is trying to reach her sixth final of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz's bid to win a third straight Madrid Open title ended with a three-set loss to Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. The second-seeded Spaniard […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=389840"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389843,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389840\/revisions\/389843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/389842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}