The Mutua Madrid Open has its first major shock. Andrey Rublev, the ninth seed and defending champion, was knocked out in the second round by Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva, ranked 66th in the world, with a commanding 6-3, 6-4 scoreline in just 74 minutes.
Kopriva set the tone from the very first game. Aggressive on return and razor-sharp from the baseline, the 28-year-old broke Rublev once in each set, which proved enough to seal both. The Russian, visibly struggling to find his rhythm on Madrid's clay, never found an answer to his opponent's relentless consistency.
For Rublev, the title defence ends in the most brutal fashion. In 2024, he triumphed at the Caja Mágica by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final. This year, the ninth seed lacked that same intensity, producing an unusually high number of unforced errors and a first-serve percentage well below his standards.
Kopriva, meanwhile, claims the biggest win of his career. A professional since 2016, the Czech has been climbing the rankings steadily and finds in Madrid the reward for years of quiet persistence. He will next face either Cameron Norrie or Arthur Fils for a place in the last sixteen — a prospect that would have seemed unthinkable just days ago.
Rublev's exit blows open a section of the draw. With Carlos Alcaraz already withdrawn due to a wrist injury, the seeds in the bottom half keep falling, offering unexpected opportunities to a hungry pack of outsiders.
