Andrey Rublev compared his win over Roger Federer to an asteroid hitting Earth as the Russian tennis star felt “all stars aligned” when he beat the Swiss in their Cincinnati Masters match.

In 2019, Rublev forgot to sign up in time for the Cincinnati Masters. When Rublev finally signed up for the tournament, he entered only as the last alternate for qualifying and also had one racket that was far from the best condition. Following some player withdrawals, Rublev managed to sneak into the Cincinnati qualifying event.  After Bernard Tomic retired in their qualifying opener, Rublev recovered from a set down to beat Mikhail Kukushkin in the qualifying final round.

After making it past the qualifying event, Rublev also beat Nikoloz Basilashvili and stunned Stan Wawrinka to set up a Cincinnati round-of-16 match against Federer. Rublev, who was playing against Federer for the first time and the huge underdog, ended up claiming a routine 6-3 6-4 win over the former 20-time Grand Slam champion.