Madrid Open: Defending champion Alcaraz out, Sabalenka marches on

Spain's home favorite and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz was ousted by Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the Madrid Open quarterfinal on Wednesday 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. 

On the women's side, reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus took her 10th consecutive win to move past Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva to set up her ninth meeting with Elena Rybakina, who survived a scare against fellow Kazakhstani Yulia Putintseva.

Reaching the semifinals in Madrid for the first time, Rublev also denied Alcaraz's hopes of becoming the first player to achieve a hat-trick in Madrid, ending his own four-match losing streak before Madrid and his opponent's 14-match winning streak.

Meanwhile, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime enjoyed a walkover after Italian top seed Jannik Sinner pulled out from the tournament with a hip injury and awaits the winner between Russian Dannil Medvedev and Czech Jiri Lehecka who sent away Rafael Nadal a day ago.

On the women's side, fourth seed Rybakina had to come back from one set down in almost three hours to reach the semifinal against a 50th-ranked Putintseva who had a 2-0 edge in their head-to-head record before Wednesday.

Putintseva took the opening set in 45 minutes with a near-flawless performance, but Rybakina regained her composure and saved two match points at 5-2 down in the final set en route to collecting her fourth title of the season.

"At 2-5, I already left the emotions and frustration and just kept playing. The momentum shifted. Yulia started to get a bit more angry and some mistakes helped me. I just kept on playing," said the 24-year-old.

Rybakina will next meet Sabalenka for the first time on clay, and is at slight disadvantage with a 3-5 record against the second seed.

Sabalenka repeated her victory over 17-year-old Andreeva from last year at Madrid, outclassing the rising star in straight sets in the fourth round both times. The Belarusian is bidding to become the second WTA player to win three titles in Madrid after Czech Petra Kvitova.