Former world No. 6 Auger-Aliassime had an abridged road to his first career Masters 1000 final, receiving two retirements and a walkover—the latter from No. 1 seed and Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner—to reach the final. And to start the match, it looked as though, perhaps, he had the upper hand physically once more. The Canadian raced out to a 4-1 lead against a subdued Rublev, who double-faulted on the first two points of the match.
But whether it was magic, or Rublev’s sheer force of will, the tide slowly turned the seeded player’s way. As the match time continued to rise, so did Rublev’s energy, and when his opportunity came in the second set, he pounced. Breaks came for the Russian in the final game of each of the second and third sets, with a double fault by the Canadian eventually handing Rublev a second career Masters 1000 title.
Read more: Rublev is the ‘most proud’ he’s ever been after defying adversity in Madrid victory
2. Ben Shelton def. Daniil Medevedev, Laver Cup
After leading Team World to its second straight Laver Cup title in 2023, Ben Shelton’s return to the competition in 2024 proved bumpier. After going undefeated in 2023, Shelton was winless through his first three matches of the 2024 event … until, that is, he faced Daniil Medvedev on Day 3.
In the pair’s first-ever head-to-head meeting, Medvedev saved two set points en route to claiming the first set, but Shelton’s first break of the day, late in the second set, proved a springboard for his eventual 6-7(6), 7-5, [10-7] win. The American had previously Houdini’d out of a 0-40 hole in the sixth game of the second set.
