Milan, Italy
Hyeon Chung became the first player to advance to the Next Gen ATP Semi-Finals with a 4-0, 4-1, 4-3 straight sets win over Andrey Rublev on Wednesday afternoon in Milan.
In front of a crowded Centre Court, Chung got off to a fast start in the Group A match breaking his 20-year old opponent both times in the opening set.
It was more of the same in the second, with Rublev struggling to find his form and making several wild errors. Rublev won just 17-percent of his first serve points and won just 1o of 29 points in the set. Chung broke Rublev two more times and was up two “Next Generation” sets in just 36 minutes. The Russian looking fatigued after a quick turnaround from winning a tough five set match which ended late last night.
The third set was more entertaining. In the fifth game, Rublev up 40-15 had back to back double faults. He then followed that up with a forehand error that went long giving Chung another break. After a brief visit from the trainer, Rublev fought back firing a wicked forehand down the line to breaking the 21 -year old and sending the set to a tiebreak.
Despite a huge roar and first pump from the Russian moments earlier, it was all Chung after that. Following an entertaining first point of the tiebreak from both players, it was South Korean who told the crowd to get on their feet after a cross court winner. He went on to win the first six points of the breaker and closed out the match winning the tiebreak 7-1.
Chung won 60 of the 99 points in the match, 34 of those coming on rallies under five shots. He won 71 percent of his first serve points to just 48 percent for Rublev.
“It was good match we had good rallies we had long rallies,” said Rublev. “He played really solid, he’s not missing really, he’s running really fast, he has amazing counter attack and that’s why he is winning now”
Chung’s 2-0 record in round robin play automatically gets him into the semi-finals. Rublev will have to beat Denis Shapovalov in his next match if he hopes to advance.
@Sportshorn
