Australian Open: Rublev Doesn’t Want To Think, He Just Wants To Play

Andrey Rublev, Australian Open
Andrey Rublev (photo: Tennis Australia/Fiona Hamilton)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 19, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 5 Andrey Rublev notched an impressive third-round victory at the Australian Open Friday night over 2023 AO quarterfinalist Sebastian Korda, 6-2, 7-6 (8), 6-4, to advance to the fourth round. After starting the new season with his 15th ATP Tour title win in Hong Kong, Rublev is now 7-0 and will next face No. 10 seed and Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur in the round of 16 on Sunday.

“I’m happy to start the year really well,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “I’m happy to start the new year with a title and to be here in the fourth round is something special for me. We will see what is going to happen next. I don’t want to think, I just want to play and that’s it.”

The nine-time major quarterfinalist from Russia benefited from a dominating serving performance against the No. 29 seed from the United States, playing head-to-head for the first time, on Margaret Court Arena. Rublev fired 13 aces, won 83 percent of his first-serve points and hit 32 winners. He saved the only break point he faced and broke Korda three times. Rublev, who benefited from Korda’s 28 unforced errors, outpointed his opponent 106-84.

On Sunday, Rublev will oppose the World No. 10 de Minaur, who has handled the pressure of being the home favorite quite well, with a quarterfinal berth at stake. Inside John Cain Arena, de Minaur fired 26 winners and broke his opponent, 100th-ranked Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli, six times in 20 opportunities en route to his third-round victory in two hours and seven minutes.

Like Rublev, de Minaur has started 2024 quite well, going 3-1 for Team Australia in the United Cup, where he defeated Novak Djokovic for the first time. His three victories in Melbourne have come against Milos Raonic of Canada (third-set retirement), Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi (6-3, 6-0, 6-3) and Cobolli.

“It feels like we are getting to the tail end of the tournament and the matches are going to be very tough,” de Minaur said in his on-court interview. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m playing some great tennis and I’ve started the year amazingly. Hopefully, I can keep it going. …

“I struggled a bit to find my rhythm throughout the match, but I stayed in the moment, and I stayed composed. I tried to play some good tennis and it worked out in the end.”

Mannarino sets up showdown with Djokovic but doesn’t know it – yet 

Like de Minaur, things also worked out in the end for 35-year-old Adrian Mannarino. The World No. 17 from France went the distance to beat 16th seed Ben Shelton of the United States, 7-6 (4) 1-6, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4, in four hours and 46 minutes on Kia Arena. It was Mannarino’s 11th consecutive five-set triumph.

The No. 20 seed Mannarino, arguably in the best shape and form in his career – as well as a career-best-ranking – will face the World No. 1 and top seed Djokovic next – even though by his own admission, he doesn’t know he’s playing the Serbian yet.

Djokovic earlier advanced with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina in two hours and 28 minutes on Rod Laver Arena Friday night. The 24-time major champion struck 10 aces among his 34 winners to move into the AO fourth round for the 16th time.

Mannarino has said he has no interest in identifying his next opponent sooner than necessary – which, against Djokovic, would be about an hour before match time on Sunday.

“I don’t think I need to prepare special for these kinds of matches,” Mannarino told the ATP Tour website. “Many players like to play with lefty before playing a lefty, practicing with a righty before playing a righty. I just think that’s bullshit.

“This is one of the reasons why I’m struggling to find partners because people, they’re really, really intense in their preparation. They want everything to be perfect. For me, doesn’t really matter.

“Yesterday I was just too tired. I’ve been playing like 15 minutes with my coach. I said, ‘No, I don’t want nothing more, I’ve been playing enough tennis the last few days’.”

In this all-lefty battle, Mannarino overcame Shelton’s booming 191 kmh serves that produced 18 aces and contributed towards the young American’s total of 73 winners to hit 49 winners of his own. He overcame 40 unforced errors. Although outpointed 186-180, Mannarino was the steadier player at the end – and he ended Shelton’s chance at advancing to the second week in Melbourne for the second straight year. It was the ninth straight win against lefties for Mannarino, while Shelton fell to 0-5 against southpaws.

Other Friday winners include: No. 4 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz of the United States and No. 15 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia.

Sinner set up a fourth-round meeting with Khachanov on Sunday by easily beating No. 26 seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina, while the Russian ended the run of 75th-ranked Czech Tomas Machac, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5).

Meanwhile, Tsitsipas eliminated No. 79 Luca Van Asche of France, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, and Fritz advanced over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, ranked 67th, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Krejcikova weathers an Australian storm

No. 9 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic came back from the brink of defeat to outlast 180th-ranked qualifier Storm Hunter, the last Australian in the women’s singles draw, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in two hours and on Rod Laver Arena Friday night. Unlike a day ago, when Daniil Medvedev turned out the lights in Melbourne with his win over Emil Ruusuvuori at 3:40 a.m., this time, Krejcikova finished off Hunter three hours earlier at 12:40 a.m.

With the victory, the 2021 French Open champion has advanced to the second week in Melbourne for the third straight year, and for the seventh time overall at a Grand Slam event. The 11th-ranked Czech star hit 44 winners, including eight aces, and converted four of eight break points. She outpointed Hunter 107-96 in their first singles encounter after facing each other in doubles on several occasions.

Next, Krejcikova will face one of the surprises of the first week, 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva. Coming off an earlier 54-minute, straight-set upset of World No. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the 47th-ranked Andreeva had a tougher time against unseeded Diane Parry of France. However, she escaped with a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) triumph in two hours and 23 minutes after coming from 1-5 down in the final set and saving a match point against the No. 72 Parry.

Parry served for the match twice and had a match point on Andreeva’s serve, ahead 5-2 (30-40) before Andreeva recovered and won four straight games. Soon, the two competitors were drawn into a 10-point match tiebreak that Andreeva dominated. She won on her second match point.

“I would prefer to win in straight sets. I think everybody would,” Andreeva said in her post-match news conference. “But it’s also good to win when you’re fighting for every point. I think I will have a lot of matches like this in my career. I’m just happy with the win. I don’t care how I win exactly with the score and the time, I just want to win.

“If it takes three sets, then I’m happy to win with three sets. If it takes two sets, then of course I’m happy to win with two sets.”

Only three of Top 10 in WTA rankings remain

In a week characterized by upsets, of the Top 10 in the WTA rankings, only No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 4 Coco Gauff of the United States and No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia remain.

On Friday, World No. 2 Sabalenka needed just 52 inured to score a double-bagel (6-0 6-0) win over No. 28 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, while the fourth seed Gauff was solid in her 61-minute 6-0 6-2 victory over fellow American Alycia Parks, ranked 82nd.

However, the biggest upset of the day came when 20-year-old Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva, ranked 170th, defeated No. 10 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, 7-6 (7), 6-3. It’s her first Top-20 triumph and it came on her fifth match-point opportunity.

Other winners included: Magdalena Frech of Poland, Marta Kostyk of Ukraine and Amanda Anisimova of the United States.

Around Melbourne Park

Friday’s Australian Open results

Saturday’s Australian Open order of play

By the numbers

Day 6 attendance at the Australian Open on Friday eclipsed the 90,000 mark, breaking the 2023 First Friday Day/Night record of 85,488. A total of 53,512 fans attended the day session, while 37,453 came out for the night session. The total for both sessions reached 90,965.

“Quotable …”

“Well, in women’s tennis it’s not a lot about the game, I guess. It’s more about mental part. … I always felt that I have something in my game that I can pursue. If I’m in the right mental state, I can play well. So, I think now is just everything coming up together. I’m having one of the best weeks of my life so far.”

– Qualifier Maria Timofeeva, 20, of Russia, during her post-match press conference after upsetting No. 10 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, on what she has learned about herself and her game after winning three rounds of qualifying to advance to the main draw, then winning three straight matches to reach the round of 16.

 

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