Andrey Rublev kept his cool to extinguish Taro Daniel’s hopes of an early Roland Garros upset on the opening day of the clay-court Grand Slam.
Kicking off Sunday’s schedule on Court Simonne-Mathieu with his third Lexus ATP Head2Head clash against Daniel, Rublev recovered quickly from dropping the second set to seal a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 first-round triumph. In doing so, the sixth seed maintained his perfect record in tour-level meetings with the No. 80 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
“It was a tough match, and he is a tough player,” said Rublev in his on-court interview. “He knows how to play on clay, and we have played a lot of matches against each other, so we know each other very well. The conditions were not easy to play, with the wind and everything, but in the end, we played a great match.”
Rublev 🤝 Round 1: ✅
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 26, 2024
Andrey gets past Taro Daniel in 4 sets to advance 💫@rolandgarros | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/KBTsWl51V9
A two-time quarter-finalist at the Paris major, Rublev relied on consistent serving to power his way to victory. The 26-year-old won 89 per cent (58/65) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys Stats, while he also used his heavy forehand to dictate play at key moments. Despite showing signs of frustration after losing a second set in which both players let slip six break points, Rublev regained his composure to improve to 23-9 for the year.
Rublev has struggled for consistency on the European clay so far in 2024. He lifted his second ATP Masters 1000 trophy on the surface in Madrid in early May, but only won one of his four matches at other clay-court events across the past two months. Now he will hope to build on his largely solid start in Paris in a second-round clash with Pedro Martinez, who edged Thiago Agustin Tirante 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Grigor Dimitrov had little trouble joining Rublev in the second round. The Bulgarian eased past Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 after converting five of seven break points he earned.
The 10th-seeded Dimitrov is now 18-13 at Roland Garros, where he reached the fourth round for just the second time in 13 appearances last year. The 33-year-old, who has now won 25 tour-level matches this season, will take on Fabian Marozsan or qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin next.
World No. 8 Hubert Hurkacz also advanced on Sunday, but only after pulling through a five-set test from Shintaro Mochizuki. The Pole rallied to a 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 triumph against Japanese qualifier Mochizuki after two hours and 58 minutes on Court 7. Hurkacz, whose best Roland Garros showing is a fourth-round run from 2022, will next play Brandon Nakashima, who prevailed in an all-American clash with Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2.
There was an early Sunday disappointment for home fans in Paris, where Lorenzo Sonego upset the No. 1 Frenchman in the PIF ATP Rankings Ugo Humbert 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Sonego fired 35 winners past the World No. 16 to defeat him for the second straight year at Roland Garros.
Sonego’s next opponent will be Zhang Zhizhen, who downed Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
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