NOS Sports•today, 12:27
Tallon Greek Spoor failed to reach the last eight of a masters tournament for the first time in Madrid. The number 25 in the world barely got a foothold in the eighth finals against the almost flawless Russian Andrei Rublev (WTA-8): 2-6, 4-6.
Rublev opened on the Spanish clay with a strong service game, which he larded with two aces, after which Greek track immediately lost his serve, partly due to a double fault. This immediately set the tone.
Rublev, who has had some bad weeks, rolled through his serves convincingly, while Greek Spoor had difficulty with the Russian’s quick returns. At 1-4, the Haarlemmer managed to serve away a break point, but after 0-40 at 2-5, things went wrong on the second set point.
Greek track has faced Rublev twice before and almost got him last year in Doha, but he missed three match points on his own serve. In both lost confrontations – the other was on the grass in Halle last year – Greek Spoor won the first set.
In any case, that pattern was broken after that first fast set, which took less than half an hour. The solid play of Rublev remained unchanged, who served and returned strongly and often had the upper hand in the rallies.
Greekpoor, who had won handsomely against the Dane Holger Rune (WTA-12) a round earlier, survived two break points at 1-2 in the second set and faced a first match point at 4-5. Rublev, who lost only eight points on his own serve and did not have to clear a single break point, struck immediately and won the loot after just over an hour of play.
Also Medevdev through
Rublev’s compatriot Daniil Medvedev also qualified for the quarter-finals. The number four in the world defeated Kazakh Aleksandr Boeblik (WTA-18): 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Medvedev had to recover from a break deficit in the first set, after which he took the first six points in the tiebreak and then also the set. In the second set, the Russian immediately went on to 4-0 and Boeblik was unable to recover from that blow.
