He avoided Medvedev’s mistake! Rublev advanced to the second week of the JSC and will play with the Australian hero
Sergey Emelyanov January 19, 2024, 15:55 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
In the third round, Andrey took victory from Sebastian Korda, who a year ago, at the same stage of the tournament, eliminated Daniil from the fight.
Almost exactly a year ago, on January 20, 2023, the American tennis player Sebastian Korda in the third round of the Australian Open became an insurmountable obstacle for the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev, seeded seventh at AO-2023, could not win a single set and lost 6:7, 3:6, 6:7. A year later, at a similar stage of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, Korda met with another Russian athlete, Andrei Rublev. Last year, both Andrei and Sebastian reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne, so this season they both needed to defend a lot of points they had earned.
This year in Melbourne, both tennis players reached the third round match in a similar way. In the first round, both Korda and Rublev needed to go through all five sets to break the resistance of the Czech Vit Kopriva and the Brazilian Thiago Wilde, respectively. After difficult victories, Sebastian and Andrey gained confidence and in their next matches they had no problems with the Frenchman Quentin Alice and the American Christopher Eubanks. Korda and Rublev advanced in the AO-2024 draw so identically that in the first round matches they both led 2-0 in sets and finished the second round matches with the same score: 6:4, 6:4, 6. :4.
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Previously, Andrei and Sebastian met twice at the adult professional level, and the score of personal meetings was 2-0 in favor of Rublev. He won 7:5, 7:6 (9:7) in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Miami Masters and 6:2, 6:3 in the final of the Gijón tournament in 2022. Both matches took place on a hard surface, so Andrei had every reason to believe that the opponent’s style and manner of play were well known to him and quite suitable for him.
The 26-year-old Russian entered the match without any preparation and already in the first match at the reception he was able to pause. Rublev had three chances to take his opponent’s serve, but Korda first broke away at 15:40 and then also played a single break point. A few games later, the Russian successfully overcame the first difficulties with his serve and managed to emerge with a score of “minus”. At the time it might have seemed like the first match would be a tenacious and intense fight, but everything changed very quickly.
Andrei Rublev
Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Before the sixth game, Andrei was distracted by a good deed and spent some time trying to catch a cricket that appeared on the field and pass it into the hands of the ball girls. It is true that in the end it was the girls serving the balls who caught the cricket. For worrying about the insect, in a matter of minutes Rublev received the first break of the match for 4:2. Then the Russian easily confirmed his lead, increasing it to three games: 5-2. The Russian did not want to postpone winning a set with his serve. Instead, he immediately made another break and put a spectacular point in the game: 6:2.
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Only at the beginning of the second set Korda managed to interrupt Rublev’s winning streak of five games in a row. Sebastián tried to change the course of the match, but Andrey showed an incredible game with his serve. The Russian served well, attacked powerfully and won rallies very quickly. The fifth game of the game turned out to be indicative, at the beginning of which Rublev was “on fire” 0:30, but quickly won two of the next four exchanges thanks to his excellent serving. Andrey served so coldly that even the second ball took Sebastian by surprise again and again.
At the same time, the 23-year-old Korda also significantly improved his serve compared to the opening set, allowing him to play his favorite tennis with constant access to the net. And they were not always necessary, since Rublev, with great difficulty, returned the ball to the other half of the court after receiving it. The main feature of the second set was that in it Andrei and Sebastian demonstrated an excellent percentage of victories on the first ball: after 10 games, both scored an incredible 88% (15 out of 17). It is not surprising that tennis players completely forgot about break points in such a game.
As a result, the fate of the game was naturally decided in the tie-break, where Rublev quickly scored the first mini-break thanks to a perfect counterattack (2:1). But it was not possible to develop the advantage: a double fault intervened at the most inopportune moment. Inspired, Korda immediately went on the attack and took the lead with a mini-break (2:3). The first key play in the decisive play of the match was the seventh play, during which Korda had complete control of the initiative, developed an attack and flew towards the net to finish, but at that moment he ran into a huge sail under himself. defensive line, which he could no longer recover. .
Sebastian Korda
Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Instead of an unpleasant 2:5, the Russian made a completely viable 3:4 and continued the battle for the most important set. With the score 5:5, a luxurious dribble from the left along the line gave Rublev the first set point, but Korda managed to continue the resistance (6:6). After recovering a set point, the American remained in the game for a short time, but after the transition, with his two serious errors in a row, he gave it to the Russian: 8:6 in favor of Andrey, and he led 2: 0 in sets.
The young American was unsettled by this turn of events. At the start of the third set, a frustrated Korda began wasting balls quickly, doubled and lost the game on serve in two minutes. Four consecutive errors by his opponent allowed Rublev to take the lead with a break at 2-1. This was the first break in the match since the end of the first set.
Later, the Russian only had to hold his serve, which he did, leading the match to a victorious result 6:2, 7:6, 6:4. Unlike last year’s performance, this time Korda failed to knock one of the leading Russian tennis players out of the draw at the third round stage of the Australian TBS. Andrey avoided Medvedev’s failure and for the third consecutive time was able to face Sebastian, again without losing a single set. Today, the Russian did not lose a single game with his serve in the entire match. Brilliant result.
This is how Rublev arrived at the second week of the AO, extending his winning streak in 2024 to eight games. Andrey started this year with a title in Hong Kong and so far this season he has not suffered a single defeat. In the fourth round match of the Australian Open, the Russian will have to face the local favorite Alex de Minaur. In early January, the Australian hero had a brilliant performance with the national team at the United Cup, highlighted by his brilliant victories over Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev. The tenth racket in the world from Australia is now in excellent shape and meeting her on his home turf should be a great test for our athlete.
