Andrey Rublev claimed that the umpire got his judgement “wrong” during his dramatic third-round match at the Madrid Open after having two calls against him. The world No. 8 was booed when he tried to argue his case on both occasions but he managed to come through and beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(10) 6-4.
Rublev won back-to-back matches for the first time since February as he silenced the crowd to beat home favourite Davidovich Fokina in Madrid. But the 26-year-old was made to fight for it, storming back in a close first set tiebreak and composing himself after some contentious calls.
In the first set, Rublev ranted at the umpire when one of his opponent’s shots was called out and then overruled, with Davidovich Fokina getting the point instead of a replay. The Russian claimed that the call came as he was hitting the ball but his words fell on deaf ears.
The same happened in reverse at 4-4 in the second set but the umpire allowed the Spaniard to replay the point instead of having it go to Rublev. The frustrated 26-year-old whipped his head around and walked straight to the chair to argue his case as more boos and whistles rang out.
After the match, the seventh seed claimed that the official was wrong to come to different conclusions on each occasion. “I mean I felt it was wrong because in the first set was exactly the same situation and I told the referee, I agree that yes I couldn’t make it, I hit it out,” Rublev said.
“But the referee called out earlier than I hit [it]. And then second set, the same situation but the referee called it also later than Alejandro hit and the referee told me no, but he was in the position that he could make it. And I say yes but he was trying to make it and he missed it and then it was out.”
The 15-time title winner thought there was no difference between both incidents though both calls went against him. He added: “Exactly the same two situations and both of them in my situation, he gave the point to Alejandro and in Alejandro’s situation, we replayed the point.”