Madrid draw opens up after shock Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner double exit
The Madrid Open men’s draw has been blown wide open after Carlos Alcaraz was dealt defeat by Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner has withdrawn due to injury.
Sinner has been nursing a hip injury this week and has ultimately had to withdraw from Thursday’s quarter-final, granting Felix Auger-Aliassime a welcome walkover into the semi-final stage.
“My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful,” the Italian wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse.”
Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid. My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful. Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse. pic.twitter.com/QJX9WVA4Np
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) May 1, 2024
The 22-year-old now faces a race against the clock to be fit in time for his home Masters tournament in Rome, starting on May 8, and Roland Garros, beginning May 25.
Alcaraz and Sinner, the top two seeds respectively, were on a collision course to meet in the Madrid final but, after the Spaniard was taken down by Rublev in three-sets, the draw has opened up for the rest of the field.
What happened to Carlos Alcaraz?
The world No.3 was heading into Wednesday’s quarter-final against Rublev off the back of an unconvincing win over German Jan-Lennard Struff in the previous round.
And world No.8 Rublev took complete advantage. He showed the composure that has often been missing in the early stages of his 2024 campaign to fight back from a set down to stun the Spaniard 4-6 6-3 6-2.
Rublev produced a destructive return-of-serve masterclass – and refused to stutter when serving himself – throughout the final two sets to befuddle his opponent.
The 26-year-old was coming into the tournament without an ATP singles win in six weeks, but victory over Alcaraz now puts him in strong contention for the title.
He awaits either Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in the semi-finals.
On the other side of the draw, Auger-Aliassime will hope to capitalise on the withdrawal of Sinner as he anticipates a match up against world No.4 Daniil Medvedev or Jiri Lehecka for a place in Sunday’s final.
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