Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime came up just short of claiming his first ATP Masters 1000 title.
Andrey Rublev of Russia outlasted Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 during Sunday’s final at the Madrid Open.
The 23-year-old from Montreal moved on to the final of the clay-court tournament after semifinal opponent Jiri Lehecka of Czechia retired due to injury with their match tied 3-3 in the first set.
Auger-Aliassime didn’t even take the court in the quarterfinals when his opponent, top-seeded Jannik Sinner, withdrew from the tournament with a hip injury.
He also advanced by walkover in the third round when Jakub Mensik of Czechia retired from that match. Auger-Aliassime was leading 6-1, 1-0.
“It’s crazy. I don’t know if it’s ever happened to a player before,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It’s kind of a weird situation to be in on my part. It’s never happened to me in my career so far, a withdrawal or a walkover or retirement of this sort, and back-to-back like this.”
Auger-Aliassime posted a convincing 6-4, 7-5 win over fifth-seed Casper Ruud of Norway on the fourth round and easily handled 19th-seed Adrian Mannarino of France 6-0, 6-4 in the second round.
— With files from The Associated Press