It was already clear before Tuesday's round of 16 that two Russian players would be among the last eight individual competitors at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid. The fact that it would be about Karen Khachanov and Aslan Karatsev comes as a surprise. Khachanov, who played a very strong season almost unnoticed, beat Monte Carlo champion Rublev 7: 6 (8) and 6: 4.

A few minutes later Karatsev, who had fought his way into the main draw through qualification, had beaten Medvedev also 7:6 (1) and 6:4. By the way, Karatsev could meet Jan-Lennard Struff again in the quarterfinals. He had clearly defeated him in the second round of qualifying. But Struff, who has to play against Pedro Cachin tonight, has so far used his chances as a lucky loser.

Here is the individual tableau in Madrid

madrid map