Madrid Masters: Monfils withdraws before his second round against Rublev in Madrid
Andrey Rublev benefited from the forfeit of Gael Monfils on Friday evening and will play Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the next round
Gael Monfils, Madrid Masters, 2025 © Khadim Sylla / Tennis Majors
Andrey Rublev, the No 7 seed, advanced to the third round of the Madrid Masters after Gael Monfils withdrew before their scheduled second-round match at the Caja Magica.
The Frenchman, currently ranked 42nd in the world, was forced to withdraw from the Masters 1000 event with illness just hours before he and Rublev were due to take to Manolo Santana for what promised to be a gripping evening session in the Spanish capital.
Announcing the news to his followers via his Snapchat account.
“Unfortunately, I had to withdraw from the tournament. I hope it will get better soon, I’ll give you news very soon, he wrote.
In the first round, the 38-year-old completed a stirring comeback against Borna Gojo in three sets (1-6, 6-2, 6-4). His battle against Rublev would have been a rematch of their clash in Monte-Carlo two weeks ago, which was won by the Russian.
However, Rublev, ranked No 8, will go straight through to face Kazakh Alexander Bublik next.
In the previous round of the Madrid tournament, Monfils, ranked No 42, edged out Croat qualifier Borna Gojo (1-6, 6-2, 6-4).
Madrid Masters 1000, other second-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Joao Fonseca vs. Tommy Paul
- Jack Draper vs. Tallon Griekspoor
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Luciano Darderi
- Karen Khachanov vs. Reilly Opelka
- Grigor Dimitrov vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Matteo Arnaldi vs. Novak Djokovic
- Alexandre Muller vs. Ugo Humbert
- Marcos Giron vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Jacob Fearnley vs. Tomas Machac
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
- Gabriel Diallo vs. Kamil Majchrzak
- Jiri Lehecka vs. Cameron Norrie
- Alex De Minaur vs. Lorenzo Sonego
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Kei Nishikori vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Sebastian Baez vs. Damir Dzumhur
- Flavio Cobolli vs. Holger Rune
- Nuno Borges vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Ben Shelton vs. Mariano Navone: friday
- Brandon Nakashima (31) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-3, 7-6 (3)
- Taylor Fritz (3) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-1, 6-4
- Alexander Zverev (1) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-2, 6-2
- Jakub Mensik (22) beat Ethan Quinn (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-1
- Sebastian Korda (23) beat Federico Cina (WC): 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
- Alexander Bublik beat Alexei Popyrin (25): 6-4, 7-6 (4)
- Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (18): 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Laslo Djere
- Casper Ruud (14) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 6-4
- Benjamin Bonzi beat Hubert Hurkacz (27): 6-4, 7-5
- Francisco Comesana beat Arthur Fils (13): 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Francisco Cerundolo (20) beat Harold Mayot (Q): 6-3, 6-4
