Tennis aficionados and celebrity hunters were out in full force for Wednesday's Madrid Open action, where two men's quarter-finals and two women's last-eight encounters took place on the clay.
Raul, David Villa, Luka Modric and Koke were among the famous sporting faces in attendance, but those of a Spanish persuasion were left deflated for the second time in as many days as a local hero bowed out.
Here, Sports Mole runs down the highlights of Wednesday's quarter-final action.
Andrey Rublev crushes Carlos Alcaraz's three-peat dreams
One day after Rafael Nadal's farewell Madrid campaign was brought to an end by Alex de Minaur, Carlos Alcaraz would continue to fly the flag high for Spain, battling volatile Russian Andrey Rublev for a place in the last four.
It would not be a match involving Rublev without an outburst of emotions - the chair umpire felt the full force of the seventh seed's temper - but he ended up channelling his short fuse to magnificent effect to knock out the two-time champion.
Coming from a set down to earn a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Alcaraz, to the dismay and bewilderment of the Madrid crowd, Rublev can now look forward to ATP 1000 semi-final number eight, and he has reached the last four of seven of his last nine Masters appearances.
Standing in the Russian's way of a spot in the showpiece will be Taylor Fritz, who closed out the day with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 beating of Francisco Cerundolo for his 250th tour-level win, and he is now the first American man to reach the Madrid semis since Robby Ginepri 19 years prior.
Ruthless Aryna Sabalenka puts Mirra Andreeva to sword
While it was doom and gloom for the current men's champion Alcaraz, women's holder Aryna Sabalenka remains on course for back-to-back Madrid successes on account of teaching 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva a harsh lesson.
The Russian youngster had sent Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova packing in the earlier rounds, while Sabalenka had not won any of her previous contests in straight sets, but she made light work of Andreeva in a 6-1 6-4 triumph.
The Belarusian's success was almost a carbon copy of her win over a 16-year-old Andreeva in the last 16 of the 2023 Madrid Open, and she came through the 79-minute encounter without facing a single break point.
A tantalising semi-final with Elena Rybakina now awaits Sabalenka, after the Kazakhstani defeated compatriot Yulia Putintseva - who squandered two match points - in a bad-tempered first match of the day.
Ben Knapton
