Hommam Al Nassim 
Russian Andrei Rublev, ranked eighth in the world, managed to reach the final round of the Madrid tennis tournament by defeating American Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals, on Friday.
Rublev, 26, produced a strong performance against Fritz, who are thirteenth in the world, and recorded their third win in nine encounters.
In just 72 minutes, Rublev broke Fritz’s serve three times, preventing a repeat of his last feat of 2022, when he won his first Masters title at Indian Wells, after beating Spanish legend Rafael Nadal.
Reaching the Madrid final for the first time, his fifth Masters final, Rublev looks ready to repeat his previous feat at Monte Carlo last year, when he won the title.
On his way to the semi-finals, Rolev eliminated Spaniard Carlos Alcaras, the champion of the previous two years, in a decisive match that ended 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Russia’s Medvedev and Rublev shine in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Tennis Games (video)