Andrey ‘Rublo’ Rublev was defeated by countryman Daniil ‘The Chessmaster’ Medvedev at the US Open on Wednesday, ending the Russian’s hopes of a maiden Grand Slam semi-final appearance.

Playing in his ninth Grand Slam quarter-final, Rublev put up a brave fight in brutal conditions against his higher-ranked compatriot before going down to 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 48 minutes.

The result sets up a semi-final between Medvedev and current world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz while Novak Djokovic, who takes over from the Spaniard at the top of the rankings next week, plays American Ben ‘The Mountain’ Shelton in the other semi-final.

“Today I feel I had a lot of chances. It’s just he was better in those moments or he served better or he played better and me, I was opposite. Or I didn’t make first serve and I played with second and stuff like this. And in this level, these things is also very important, a few times I remember I went to the net, and I couldn’t finish, and I had not really tough volley. These things are important, and I need to improve them,” Rublev said after his win.

The Russian, one of the most popular figures on the men’s tour, was genuinely appreciative of the support he received from the New York crowd. “I can be only grateful, only really, really grateful for the support, for the people in general being these conditions, super hot, super humid, and they are still coming, supporting players, supporting tennis. For every player it’s amazing, and I think we all appreciate it. At least me, for sure, I appreciate it a lot. I can be only grateful, because in the end they are making our sport more famous and better.”

The Russian will now head to Frankfurt for the UTS Tour in Frankfurt where he will compete alongside Christopher “The Rocket” Eubanks, Gael “La Monf” Monfils and Diego “El Peque” Schwartzman in Group B while Casper “The Iceman” Ruud, Daniil “The Chessmaster” Medvedev, Benoit “The Rebel” Paire, and “The Thunder” Jan-Lennard Struff will take part in Group A.