Paris – World No 7 Andrey Rublev advanced to the fourth round of the French Open after beating Cristian Garin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(11), here on Saturday.
Rublev dropped sets against Soonwoo Kwon and Federico Delbonis en route to the third round, where he was once again made to work hard by Garin. The Russian rallied from a double break down in the fourth set and saved five set points in the fourth-set tie-break before sealing his win on his fifth match point.
In a heavy-hitting clash, Rublev kept his composure after losing the second set as he became more proactive in rallies. The 24-year-old took the ball early and blasted his flat groundstrokes through the court to advance after three hours and 11 minutes and improve to 3-0 in his ATP Head to Head series with Garin.
Rublev is making his fourth appearance in Paris, with his best result a run to the quarter-finals in 2020. He will look to match that achievement when he plays Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.
With his victory, the 11-time tour-level titlist has improved to 28-7 on the season and 10-3 on clay. Rublev has captured ATP Tour trophies on hard in Marseille and Dubai and on clay in Belgrade last month. Only Carlos Alcaraz (4) has more titles in 2022.
On the other hand, Garin was aiming to advance to the fourth round in the French capital for the second consecutive year. The World No 37 reached the semi-finals in Houston before he advanced to the quarter-finals in Rome.
–IANS