Rome Masters: Qualifier Muller stuns Madrid champ Rublev to reach last 16

French qualifier Alexandre Muller advanced to the last 16 of the Rome Masters with an upset win over Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 4 seed, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Foro Italico on Monday.

The defeat ends a seven-match winning streak for Rublev, who won the Madrid Masters on Sunday.

Rublev, ranked No 6, had saved a matchpoint in his first round win over American Marcos Giron (5-7, 6-4, 7-5). The Russian saved two more in the seventh game of the final set against Muller, but the Frenchman converted his third matchpoint, this one on his own serve, to score the biggest win of his career.

Muller also becomes the first qualifier to defeat a top 5 seed after losing the first set at an ATP Masters 1000 event since another Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in Paris in 2019.

Muller, ranked No 109 and aged 27, will play the winner of the match between Italian wildcard Stefano Napolitano and Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the No 21 seed, next.

This was the first top 10 of his career win for Muller and it also marks the first time that he is through to the fourth round at an ATP Masters 1000 event.

Earlier in the tournament, the Frenchman beat Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2) and No 31 seed Arthur Fils (7-5, 6-3).

Rome Masters 1000, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7,877,020):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) beat Cameron Norrie (27): 6-2, 7-6 (1)
• Alex De Minaur (9) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (18): 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Ben Shelton (12): 6-2, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Luciano Darderi: 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (11) beat Sebastian Korda (24): 6-3, 6-4
• Alejandro Tabilo (29) beat Novak Djokovic (1): 6-2, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov (8) beat Terence Atmane (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Karen Khachanov (16) beat Francisco Cerundolo (20): 6-2, 6-4
• Nuno Borges beat Francesco Passaro (Q): 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4)
• Thiago Monteiro (Q) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6)
• Hamad Medjedovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Sebastian Baez vs. Holger Rune
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Stefano Napolitano vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Tommy Paul vs. Dominik Koepfer