Rublev Garners First Win of Season, Reaches Montpellier Quarterfinals

Andrey Rublev, Montpellier
Andrey Rublev (photo: Open Occitanie/JB Autissier)

MONTPELLIER/WASHINGTON, January 29, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Top 10-star Andrey Rublev came into his opening match at the ATP 250-series Open Occitanie in Montpellier Wednesday afternoon in search of his first match win of the 2025 season following earlier than expected exits at both Hong Kong and at the Australian Open in Melbourne, where he lost to Fabian Marozsan of Hungary and Joao Fonseca of Brazil, respectively.

Rublev faced a formidable opponent with a big first serve in former Top-30 player Christopher Eubanks of the United States, now ranked 111th, who defeated qualifier 199th-ranked qualifier Alibek Kachmazov of Russia, 7-5, 6-4, on Monday to advance to the second round.

Eubanks entered the round of 16 fray against the World No. 10 Rublev with a 1-8 win-loss record against Top-10 players – including 0-5 on hard courts – and seeking a berth into his ninth career quarterfinal. Now, after facing Rublev for the second time in two seasons, add another loss to Eubank’s ledger.

With a quarterfinal final berth at stake, Rublev rose to the occasion and quietly but efficiency defeated Eubanks, 6-4, 6-3, in an hour and five minutes to break a six-match losing streak. The 27-year-old Moscow native garnered his first match win of the season – and first since Metz last November. After breaking Eubanks to go ahead 3-2 in the second set, Rublev put away the victory with a 10-shot backhanded drop-volley winner. It was his second career win over Eubanks following an earlier win at the 2024 Australian Open.

Rublev, a 2018 Montpellier quarterfinalist the last time he played in southern France, hit 19 winners, including four aces, won 89 percent of his points on his first serve, saved all three break points he faced and converted three of six break-point chances against Eubanks. He outpointed the American 57-43. Eubanks countered with 22 winners of his own but his 23 unforced errors compared to nine for Rublev were too much to overcome.

“Chris is such a tough player, especially indoors,” Rublev said of Eubanks during his on-court interview. “He likes to serve, he likes to go to the net, he likes attack. In these conditions, it’s really tough to play against him. From the beginning, I knew I had to be super focused on the first few shots, first return, after the serve. Sometimes, he hits unbelievable winners with the return. I was able to play really well today. I was able to win.”

On Friday, Rublev will face either qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia or No. 7 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France, who play their second-round match on Thursday.

Around the Open Occitanie

Wednesday proved to be the busiest day at the Open Occitanie – it was Kid’s Day – with a total of seven singles and three doubles matches on the order of play.

Among the highlights:

• Defending champion Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan needed just 70 minutes to advance to the quarterfinal round following his 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 118 Dominik Koepfer of Germany on Court Patric Dominguez Wednesday evening. The 39th-ranked No. 4 seed hit 10 aces and recorded 20 overall winners. Also, he won 76 percent of his first-serve points and broke Koepfer’s serve four times en route to collecting his first win of the 2025 season after consecutive first round losses in Adelaide and Melbourne to Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, respectively.

“It’s been a tough couple of months for me, so getting any kind of win is important,” Bublik said during his on-court interview. “Especially here where I have had the most success in my career.”

Bublik, who won Montpellier titles in 2022 and 2024 and has won 10 of his last 11 matches in Montpellier since the start of his 2022 run, will await Thursday’s second-round outcome between No. 98 Mattia Bellucci of Italy and 102nd-ranked American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic.

• No. 131 Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands, one of three Dutch players in the singles draw, won the opening set of his first-round match 74th-ranked wild card Quentin Halys of France in a 9-7 tiebreaker. Soon after, ahead 2-0 in the second set, de Jong was through to the second round after Halys was forced to retire with a foot injury following an hour and 12 minutes of play on Court Patrice Dominguez. It was de Jong’s first tour-level win of the season – as well as his first indoors – and third tour-level victory of his career. Next, he will play No. 3 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy on Thursday.

“In the first set, I didn’t know there was an injury. I kind of stole the first set with the tie-break,” de Jong said during his on-court interview. “I’m happy I kept believing [in myself] in the tie-break. I was a little bit lucky in the end. It’s an unfortunate way to win but I wish [Quentin] the best.”

• No. 6 seed David Goffin of Belgium was upset by American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic, ranked No. 102, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. At a set each, Kovacevic broke Goffin for the third time to go ahead 4-3 in the final set and it proved the difference in the outcome. Next, Kovacevic will face No. 98 Mattia Bellucci of Italy in the second round on Thursday.

• No. 8 seed Bu Yunchaokete of China, ranked 71st, need just 63 minutes to put away 177th-ranked French qualifier Constant Lestienne, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinal round on Friday. Bu fired nine aces, dropped only three points on his first serve, broke Lestienne’s serve in five of eight return games and outpointed his opponent 62-38.

Next, Bu will face No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, ranked 23rd, who hit 27 winners overall – including 11 aces – in defeating No. 101 Arthur Cazaux of France, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in an hour and 47 minutes Wednesday evening on Court Patrice Dominguez. Auger-Aliassime, who recently collected his sixth career title earlier this month in Adelaide, outpointed Cazaux 71-56 It was his 50th indoor victory since the start of the 2022 season.

• Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, ranked 178th, advanced to the second round by retirement over No. 112 Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, leading 6-3, 3-6, 5-0, after an hour and 44 minutes on Court 1. He will play No. 7 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France for a berth in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

• Frenchman doubles pair Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Americans Christian Harrison and Evan King in an hour and 19 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez, winning 81 percent of their service points and outpointing their opponents 70-55. Next, they will face No. 3 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Yuki Bhambri of India in the quarterfinal round.

• Unseeded Dutch duo Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens of the Netherlands advanced to the semifinal round with their 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Germany’s Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens, in 61 minutes on Court 1.

Wednesday’s Open Occitanie results

Thursday’s Open Occitanie order of play

By the numbers

World No. 10 Andrey Rublev has won six of his 16 ATP Tour titles indoors: at Moscow in 2019, at St. Petersburg in 2020, at Vienna in 2020, at Rotterdam in 2021, at Marseille in 2022 and at Gijon in 2022.

“Quotable …”

• “I’m happy with my game. It’s my first win of the year, that’s always good. I played well – better than I was playing in practices. I’m happy to get to this level.”

– No. 131 Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands, during his on-court interview, following his first-round match Wednesday, in which he advanced by injury retirement over Quentin Halys of France.

• “I’ve always played well here, felt well. … I like the conditions. I like a roof above my head, the same as Rotterdam next week. It’s perfect for me to be here, first win of the season, a great day so far.”

– No. 5 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, during his on-court interview Tuesday after his first-round win over his good friend and Dutch Davis Cup teammate Botic van de Zandschulp to advance to the second round against Richard Gasquet of France.

• “He’s been a Top 10 player and I used to watch him. I’m very pleased I had the chance to play against him and to prevail. It’s kind of special because the last match I didn’t play that good but I felt very good on court. I’m very happy.”

– No. 98 Mattia Bellucci of Italy, during his on-court interview Tuesday after his first-round win over 2018 Montpellier champion Lucas Pouille of France.

 

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