The ATP finalists are now down to five players.
Following Stefanos Tsitsipas’ and Holger Runes’ early exits from the tournament, Andrey Rublev followed shortly after his third loss against Zverev.
Rublev vs. Alcaraz
Rublev suffered a crushing loss to his good old friend and current World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev earlier this week, 6-4, 6-2.
However, because the competition was set up in a round-robin format, Rublev still had a chance to go to the semifinals if he defeated his subsequent opponents.
He was to face Alcaraz in his next match, and seeing as the Spanish player was placed in the same tough situation as he too lost his previous match against Alexander Zverev, they both set out on court with a sort of hunger the spectators had never seen before.
Rublev’s third loss and tournament exit
Unfortunately for Rublev, Alcaraz played more spectacularly this time. The Spaniard appeared to be invigorated after suffering back-to-back losses before their encounter, as he won the first two sets 7-5 and 6-2.
In frustration, Rublev was seen smashing his racket several times at one point during the second set, not on the court or the bench but on his very own knee, which caused fans to worry over the Russian player on social media. The Russian has always been known to be emotional, but this time was slightly different.
https://twitter.com/DevanaUkraine/status/1725131329803546849
Rublev acknowledged that it wasn’t easy for him in a post-match interview. Whether he was losing against a player or his friend, he was still disappointed. All he wanted to do was finish the season strong, and now he will never get the chance.
“You feel disappointed, especially now when you understand that the season is over and that’s it basically. You want to do better. You want to at least to try to have a better result, to play some great matches in the end of the season. Of course, you feel disappointed when it’s not happening,” Rublev said to the Turin Press.
Andrey Rublev says he’s disappointed after his loss to Carlos Alcaraz because he wanted to finish the season playing great matches:
“Of course it's not easy because you always want to finish in a good way. Sometimes you get disappointed when it's not happening. Today I got… pic.twitter.com/hR3RUfM2hY
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 15, 2023
Subsequently, Rublev suffered his third straight loss and was swept off by Zverev in a straight-set victory of 6-4, 6-4, to eliminate Rublev from the competition.
Zverev beats Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 in Turin
After last year’s injury, Sascha made a successful comeback this season.
✅Year-end ranking world #7
✅55th win of 2023Ending the season with a win.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 17, 2023
Cover Photo: IG