It has been a memorable couple of weeks for Andrey Rublev. The 26-year-old won his second ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid while struggling physically. The morning after lifting the trophy he went to the hospital, where he spent two-and-a-half days and was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess.
While the 16-time ATP Tour champion is feeling better physically, he had to quickly prepare to compete in Rome. Marcos Giron served for the match against the fourth seed, but Rublev rallied to a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 victory against the American in the early moments of Sunday morning to reach the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
“I was super angry with myself that I left a lot of emotions out today, and was thinking that, 'It's over and I deserve to lose’,” Rublev said. “I was thinking it was over and thinking again I had a lot of chances, and I couldn't make it because of my emotions. And somehow I was able to start the game really well [when my opponent served for the match] and little by little I was able to recover, so I was really lucky.”
Another day, another win on clay 🧱
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Rublev moves on in Rome 🇮🇹@InteBNLdItalia | #IBI24 pic.twitter.com/oulruGFzSY
Giron, the No. 49 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, battled from a break down in the decider and then broke serve again at 4-4, but did not win a point when he served for the match. Rublev converted six of his nine break points to triumph after two hours and 24 minutes.
The Madrid champion will next play Frenchman Alexandre Muller, who eliminated countryman Arthur Fils, the 31st seed, 7-5, 6-3.
In the final match of the day on centre court, 10th seed Holger Rune ousted home favourite Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-4.
Nardi has experience facing top players, having stunned Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells earlier this year. Although he battled valiantly in front of his Italian fans, he was unable to break through against Rune.
The Dane saved all six break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats to emerge victorious after one hour and 42 minutes. He will next play 17th seed Sebastian Baez, against whom he owns a 2-1 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage.
Two of the pair’s previous tour-level meetings, which they have split one apiece, have come on clay. Their most recent clash came on an indoor hard court last year in Basel, where Rune won in straight sets.
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