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Patna : 6th seed Andrey Rublev, 23, Russia, stunned 11 time champion & 3rd seed Rafael Nadal, 24, Spain, in a three-set battle in the quarter-finals of Rolex Mont-Carlo Masters at Monte Carlo, Monaco, on April 16, 2021, late night, to enter the semi-finals of the tournament. Rubleb beat King of Clay Courts Nadal 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in a massive upset in the tournament. Top seed & World No 1 Novak Djokovic, Serbia, had earlier lost in the 3rd round to Danial Evans, 30, UK.
Rublev will face Casper Ruud, 22, Norway, in the second SFs on April 17, 2021, at 6.20 pm. Ruud upset 15th seed & 2019 champion Fabio Fognini, 33, Italy,6-4, 6-3 in quarters-finals on April 16, 2021. In the first SFs, 4th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22, Greece, will face giant killer Danial Evans at 5 pm on April 17, 2021.
Rublev won 7 break points during the match to 4 by World No 3 Nadal. The Russian also won 6 games in a row in the match to 4 by the Spainiard. Nadal committed 7 double faults during the match to 2 by the Russian. Rublev, in all, won 99 points during the match to 87 by Nadal, who had lost in SFs in 20219. The event was not held in 2020 in the wake of Covid. Nadal, the winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles, still leads Rublev 2-1 Head to Head.