- Home hope beaten in quarter-final by seventh seed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Alcaraz had aimed to win tournament for third straight year
Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of becoming the first player to win three straight Madrid Open titles came undone as the second seed was beaten in front of his home crowd 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals.
The 20-year-old two-time grand slam champion was not at his best despite taking the opening set in 41 minutes, while Rublev put in a dominant performance to roar back and end Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.