Andrey Rublev battled past David Ferrer in hot Melbourne conditions, 7-5 6-7(6) 6-2 6-7(6) 6-2 to advance into the second round of the Australian Open.
The Russian played a scrappy match with many unforced errors as he battled past the Spaniard in just under four hours. It was a slow start for the 30th seed as he was broken by Ferrer in the first game of the match as he showed signs of nerves in the opening game.
Rublev used his big forehand to get back in the match as he broke in the sixth game for 3-3. As the set wore on the Russian was dictating play on his serve and used this to edge out the Spaniard and eventually broke in the 12th game to grab the first set 7-5. The first set would be a catalyst for the rest of the match as a battle took place on Court 14.
The second set provided with a variety of breaks as it was the aggressor trying to break down the defender in Ferrer. They shared breaks at the start of the set as Rublev was struggling to build on his momentum that he gained in the first set. After this, four breaks occurred as both men proved to be clinical from break point opportunities.
This ultimately led to a second tiebreak, which saw the veteran Spaniard save set point to take a very nervy tiebreak, 8-6. Despite losing the second set, Rublev continued to dominate rallies as he comfortably broke the world number 33 twice as took the third set 6-2 in 33 minutes.
The match looked like it was going to finish in four sets after the Russian broke Ferrer three times for a 5-2 lead and seemingly cruising to victory. Rublev even had two match points in the eighth game to finish the match off, however he was facing David Ferrer and that was good enough for victory. Only perfection would do for the world number 32 and he couldn’t provide that as the Spaniard came back to win the fourth set tiebreak, 8-6.
Despite the Spaniard’s best efforts, Rublev eventually cruised to victory winning the fifth set 6-2 and advancing to the second round in under four hours. This was a brutal first round match which gave the audience a spectacle between two players who are only separated by one ranking place in the rankings. The Russian will now play Marcos Baghdatis or Yuki Bhambri in the next round.
Kohlschreiber Horror Form Continues
In other results Philipp Kohlschreiber produced a lacklustre final set as his horror form continued at the Australian Open. The German lost to Yoshihito Nishioka, who is returning after 10 months out, 6-3 2-6, 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 as the 27th seed missed out on the second round of the Australian Open.
Nishioka will now play Andreas Seppi who advanced past Corentin Moutet 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-2 in just under three hours. The Italian who won the Canberra challenger last week, recovered from a slow start to cruise past the French wildcard.
Meanwhile Viktor Troicki survived a tough test against Australian wildcard, Alex Bolt as he recovered from two sets down to advance in Melbourne. The Serbian hit 22 aces as he beat Bolt 6-7(2) 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4, to make the second round where he could face Nick Kyrgios in the next round.
