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Andrey Rublev has given his verdict on some of the early upsets at the Rolex Paris Masters after booking his spot in the quarter-finals. The fifth seed is yet to drop a set at the tournament while two of his big rivals – Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev – fell at their first hurdle. Speaking exclusively to Express Sport, Rublev says he’s not convinced that the Spaniard didn\u2019t feel fresh coming into the tournament but acknowledged that compatriot Medvedev had a tough run leading into Paris.<\/p>\n
Rublev has been enjoying a strong finish to the season, reaching his fourth Masters final in Shanghai, following it up with a run to the Vienna semi-final and now reaching the last eight in Paris-Bercy. While the 26-year-old has been enjoying good results, two of his rivals fell at the first hurdle this week.<\/p>\n
World No 2 Alcaraz was ousted by qualifier Roman Safiullin in just 97 minutes while Rublev\u2019s close friend Medvedev crashed out to Grigor Dimitrov in a final set tiebreak. When Alcaraz suffered defeat, he later admitted that he didn\u2019t \u201cfeel well on the court\u201d and that it had been a long season.<\/p>\n
But Rublev thought that the 20-year-old came into Paris feeling fresh after taking some time away and pulling out of the recent Swiss Indoors. \u201cNo I don\u2019t think that,\u201d the world No 5 told Express Sport when asked whether he felt fresher than his rivals.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Sinner pulls out of Paris Masters after playing at 2am in controversial schedule[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think they feel okay because Carlos, he didn\u2019t play now since Shanghai so for sure he\u2019s fresh.\u201d As for the third seed, Rublev knew that Medvedev had a quick turnaround after losing the Vienna final on Sunday and noted that his compatriot also faced a tough first opponent in world No 17 Dimitrov.<\/p>\n Rublev added: \u201cMaybe Daniil is a bit tired because he played really long tournaments in a row, tough final in Vienna and straight away to play in Paris. Tough first match straight away against Grigor, it\u2019s not easy. So maybe Daniil was a bit more tired but Carlos I think he was fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n While the bottom half of the draw has been burst wide open with Alcaraz and Medvedev\u2019s losses, Rublev finds himself in the difficult top half with the likes of Djokovic and reigning champion Rune. \u201cYeah but they are all on the other [half of] draw,\u201d the fifth seed laughed when discussing the upsets.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/5046016.jpg?r=1698937885071\")
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