Rublev won in Montreal for the first time in his career! Samsonova – advanced to the third round of Toronto
Kirill Plyshevsky August 9, 2024, 00:35 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
But Khachanov and Kasatkina, unfortunately, ended the fight with the Canadian “thousands”.
The second round matches of the Masters Series tournament began in Montreal on Thursday, August 8. The second Russian player, Andrey Rublev, also competed in the 1,000-meter event in Canada. His opponents were Thomas Martin Etcheverry from Argentina.
The players met for the first time. In the rankings, Rublev is now ranked 8th, Etcheverry is 38th.
The start was left to Thomas Martin. He immediately scored the break and then managed to confirm it with 2:0. At the start of the meeting, Andrei was not himself. The Russian made a lot of mistakes and for a long time could not even catch up in reception. The Argentine confidently held his serve, preventing his opponent from reaching break points. But everything changed the moment Etcheverry came out to serve for the set. He got nervous at the crucial moment and allowed Rublev to come back into the game for 5:5. The winner of the set was eventually determined by a tie break. And there the Russian took all the key points – 7:6 (7:3) in 54 minutes. Note that on the first ball, Andrei, although he rarely served (54%), won a lot of points – 84%.
Andrei Rublev
Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
In the second game, Rublev performed at an incredible level. Our tennis player’s forehand and serve worked perfectly. Andrey managed to transfer the positive charge after winning the first set to the new game, which was much easier for him. In attack, the Russian was simply inimitable and defeated his opponent 7:6 (7:3), 6:2 in 1 hour and 27 minutes. Next, the fifth seed will fight with American Brandon Nakashima. It is worth mentioning that Rublev finally broke the sad statistics of his matches in Canada – he won a match in this country for the first time in two years. At the same time, our athlete won in Montreal for the first time in his career.
Another Russian, Karen Khachanov, also appeared on one of the Montreal courts on August 8. His opponent in singles was Matteo Arnaldi from Italy. They have already played one match each in Canada. At the start of the tournament, Karen overcame the resistance of local tennis player Gabriel Diallo 6:4, 6:4, and the Italian defeated Mackenzie McDonald from the USA 4:6, 6:4, 6:4. Khachanov and Arnaldi had never met before.
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In the second game, Khachanov managed to save himself from four break points (1:1), and with the score at 2:2 he himself broke the break (3:2). However, Arnaldi did not give up and immediately came back into the game for 3:3. In the seventh game, Karen had several opportunities to take someone else’s serve, but failed – 4:3 in Matteo’s favor. The fight in the match continued. However, in the 12th game the Russian gave up. On set point, Khachanov made a double error, losing the first game in 52 minutes by 5:7.
Things were not going well for the third Russian racket and beyond. With the score 1:2 in the second set, Arnaldi broke for 1:3. But Karen managed the reverse break and reached love for 2:3. Then the tennis players held their serves. It seemed that this time they would still make it to the tie-break, but the scenario from the first set was repeated. Khachanov failed in the 12th game, which allowed Matteo to take the match. Note that the world’s 22nd racket led on serve with 40:15, but was defeated 5:7, 5:7.
At the WTA-1000 tournament in Toronto, world number 13 Lyudmila Samsonova fought for access to the third round. She had to play Japanese Moyuka Uchizhima, who is currently ranked 63rd.
The start of the first head-to-head battle took place in an even fight. The girls took turns serving. In the sixth game, Lyudmila fought off a double break point from her opponent for 3:3, and then she herself got the break for 4:3. As a result, the second Russian racket took the first set with a score of 6:4 in 43 minutes.
In the next game, the national athlete immediately took the lead with two breaks for 4:0. It was clear that it would be extremely difficult for the representative of Japan to recover from such a result. As a result, Samsonova won over Uchizhima in 1 hour and 27 minutes. It is noteworthy that with the score 5:1 in the second set, Samsonova did not use the double match point on reception – 5:2. Then Lyudmila missed four more match points on her serve. And yet the seventh attempt was successful – 6:4, 6:2. Next, the second Russian racket will play with Naomi Osaka or Elise Mertens.
Daria Kasatkina was the last Russian to fight in Canada. Her opponent was American Amanda Anisimova.
The score in personal matches is 3-0 in favor of the American. She won on hard courts in Auckland 2020, Melbourne 2022 and Cincinnati 2022, each time in two games, and in each set Kasatkina won no more than four games.
In the new match, Daria took the lead three times with a break in the first set. But each time she was unable to hold on to her advantage. With the score 4:3 in her favour, the 12th player in the world lost three games in a row, including two of her own – 4:6 in 47 minutes. Let’s add that in the first set Kasatkina committed eight double faults.
Anisimova continued to push. The American did not postpone the matter and immediately paused, then confirmed the result: 2-0. Daria came back into the game by winning two games in a row 2-2. And with the score 4:3 in her favor, Amanda broke at love – 5:3 and came out to serve for the match. In the decisive game, Anisimova fought off a break point and finished the match in her favor, breaking the resistance of the Russians 6:4, 6:3. In the third round, the American semi-finalist will face Anna Kalinskaya.
The Thousanders in Montreal and Toronto will take place from August 6 to 12. Follow all the events of these prestigious competitions on the “Championship”.
