Towards Khachanov’s offender: Rublev gained the upper hand in the wheelhouse with de Minaur, Andreeva and Timofeeva left the Australian Open

Rublev's comeback and Khachanov's defeat

Most fans probably associate Andrei Rublev with his intensely attacking style of play and inability to contain his emotions on the court.

But we should not forget that at the same time he has long become one of the most stable representatives of the world tour.

After all, by the age of 26, he had already reached the quarterfinals of Grand Slam tournaments nine times.

And although he has not yet been able to overcome this barrier, many colleagues could only envy the consistency of his results.

These include Alex de Minaur, who only once made it past the fourth round at a major.

In 2020, he made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open, but then was unable to repeat this achievement.

Although I was close to this several times, including at my native Australian Open.

But in 2022, Jannik Sinner stood in his way, and in the last draw, Novak Djokovic.

Apparently, the Australian was determined to put an end to the unsuccessful streak, so he began to cling to every ball in the meeting with the Russian.

Yes, in the first game this was not enough - Rublev made two breaks and took the lead.

But already in the second, de Minaur’s incredible saves began to increasingly infuriate the fifth racket of the planet.

Andrey became nervous, began to take risks too often and collect unforced errors.

If in the first set there were only ten of them, then in the next two there were as many as 41.

Despite the enormous problems, during these two game periods Rublev gave up only one game on his serve and in both cases reached the tiebreaker.

But both times I was weaker there, albeit in a bitter struggle.

Thus, the Russian put himself in an extremely difficult situation.

After all, previously he had won only two out of 12 matches at the TBS, if he lost 1:2 in sets.

In 2020, he broke the resistance of Sam Querrey at Roland Garros, and two years later he made a comeback in a duel with Denis Shapovalov at the US Open.

And this time Rublev decided to repeat a similar feat.

Fortunately, de Minaur got seriously tired by the fourth game and stopped dragging everything in a row on the back line.

True, the Russian still did not manage without nerves.

Having led 3:0, he allowed the Australian to force a fight on him in the middle of the set, but in the end he confidently put the finishing touches on his opponent.

The fifth set recalled the recent confrontation between Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori.

Then the Finn also led the score, but allowed his opponent to win back, after which he literally fell apart in the final period.

The same fate befell de Minaur.

Alex took only four out of 17 plays on his own serve, and only forced a fight on someone else’s serve when the score was 0:5.

However, he was no longer saved from the steering wheel.

Rublev spent 4 hours and 14 minutes on the court, but still won and made it to the TBS quarterfinals for the tenth time in his career - 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:7 (4:7), 6:3, 6:0.

His future opponent could well have been Karen Khachanov, but he failed to come close to repeating his last year’s result at the Australian Open.

In 2023, for the second time in his career, he reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas, but this time he was eliminated in the fourth round.

An insurmountable barrier for him was Jannik Sinner, who not only ranks fourth in the ATP rankings, but is also in fantastic shape.

Before the current confrontation, the rivals met three times (the last time - in March 2021), and all matches took place in a bitter struggle.

But after a difficult victory at the US Open 2020, Khachanov lost twice to the young Italian.

This time the Russian lost outright, although he had more chances to catch on at the reception.

In the first two sets, he imposed a fierce fight on Sinner and earned as many as ten break points, but only managed to convert one.

The same cannot be said about his ruthless opponent, who used three out of three opportunities.

And although the scores of the first games turned out to be quite equal, there was still a feeling that the Italian could improve at any moment.

This is exactly what happened in the final set.

If earlier Yannick periodically experienced difficulties on serve, then in this one he was relentless and allowed the Russian to be content with only three successful returns.

And at the end he made two breaks in a row - 6:4, 7:5, 6:3.

Failures of Andreeva and Timofeeva

Two young Russian tennis stars also sheathed their rackets.

20-year-old Maria Timofeeva, who was competing at a major for the first time in her career, did not offer any serious resistance to Marta Kostyuk.

In the first game, she immediately allowed her opponent to lead 3:0 and then tried in vain to catch up with her.

And in the second it completely fell apart.

With great difficulty, she managed to take the first serve, but then lost five games in a row - 2:6, 1:6.

As Timofeeva later admitted, by the fourth round she had become addicted both physically and emotionally, so she was unable to compete on equal terms with Kostyuk.

And this is not surprising, because before this day she managed to hold six meetings in 11 days - three in the qualifications and the same number in the main tournament.

But the Russian shouldn’t be upset, because she not only reached the 1/8 finals at her debut TBS, but also made a colossal leap in the WTA rankings.

Before the start of the championship, Maria was in 170th place, and at the end of it she will move to 100th.

For the first time, Mirra Andreeva also failed to make it to the quarterfinals of a major.

She immediately got into the main draw of the Australian Open, so she was in better shape for the confrontation with Barbora Krejcikova.

And she even took the first set from the 11th racket on the planet.

During this period, the 16-year-old Russian was literally superior to the Czech in everything; just look at the ratio of actively won goals (8-4) and unforced errors (12-21).

However, Andreeva was unable to hold the entire match at this level, missing the breakthrough of Krejcikova, who suddenly recovered from her failure.

In the second segment of the game, Mirra lost her serve twice, and in the third the difference between the tennis players already looked impressive.

The Russian woman did not earn a single break point and missed four times more shots than her opponent, and she did not look as convincing in attack - 6:4, 3:6, 2:6.

One way or another, Andreeva reached the fourth round of the TBS for the second time in her career and already guaranteed herself a place in the top 40 of the WTA rankings.

So far she is predicted to take 33rd place, but this could change if Linda Noskova creates another sensation.

The day before, she knocked out the first racket of the planet, Iga Swiatek, and tomorrow she will face off against Elina Svitolina.

Fiasco in couples

Also on Sunday, two Russian duets completed their performance in the women's doubles competition, although the departure of one of them became known the day before.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova received an abdominal injury and, together with Veronika Kudermetova, was unable to take part in the second round match.

In turn, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Kalinskaya took to the court, but could not compete on equal terms with Storm Hunter and Katerzhina Sinyakova - 2:6, 2:6.

As for Kudermetova, she had a chance to lift her spirits and advance to the next round in mixed doubles.

And at first they looked pretty good together with the Briton Lloyd Glasspool.

In the first game they never conceded their own serve, but they took someone else’s with the score 5:5.

Kudermetova and Glasspool led 5-3 in the next set, but at a key moment second seeds Desiree Krawczyk and Neil Skupski were stronger and restored parity.

And then they put the finishing touches on their opponents in a super tiebreak - 5:7, 7:5, 10:7.

Lyudmila Samsonova and Andrea Vavassori also capitulated.

In fact, they showed serious resistance only in the first set, the fate of which was decided in a tiebreaker.

Perhaps the defeat there upset the Russian-Italian pair so much that in the opening of the second game they lost four games in a row.

But there simply wasn’t enough strength to organize a chase - 6:7 (8:10), 2:6.