The incredible character of Rublev
Monday gave two matches with the participation of Russians to domestic tennis fans.
Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev reached the 1/8 finals of Roland Garros for men.
And if the first had not too many chances of success in the confrontation with Novak Djokovic, then the second could well beat the 63rd racket of the world Marton Fuchovic.
In addition, Rublev had a great opportunity to take revenge on the Hungarian for Daniil Medvedev, whom Marton knocked out in the first round of the tournament in France.
Andrey could not help but recall the defeat in the Davis Cup three years ago, when Fuchovic beat him with Khachanov in singles, and then Medvedev and Kravchuk in doubles.
However, the almost four-hour match did not start very well for the Russian.
He allowed his opponent to make a break in the first game and subsequently made many mistakes.
However, when the score was 5: 3 in favor of Marton, the domestic tennis player pulled himself together and won three games in a row under zero.
Among other things, he did not allow the opponent to serve the game.
But on the tiebreak, Fuchovic was still stronger.
In the second set, the position of the 22-year-old Muscovite was even more difficult.
Fuchovic was leading 5: 2, and in the ninth game he served for the game, but again failed to realize the advantage.
Rublev, feeling confident in himself, made another break and brought the matter to victory - 7: 5.
In the third game, the service of both tennis players went wrong, especially since a strong wind was blowing over the court.
As a result, the rivals began to exchange breaks.
But even in this situation, the Russian forced Fuchovic to make a mistake at the right moment - 6: 4.
In the final fourth set, the Russian and the Hungarian, on the contrary, confidently took their serve.
However, in the tenth set, Rublev was again close to defeat.
Marton earned a triple set point, but failed to realize it.
What happened seriously broke Fuchovic, who only managed to transfer the game to a tiebreak, but was defeated there - 3: 7.
Thus, for the first time in his career, Rublev reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and for the third time - the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam Tournament.
Andrey's next opponent will be Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom the Russian defeated at the end of September in the final of the tournament in Hamburg.
In turn, the Greek in three sets left no chances for Grigor Dimitrov - 6: 3, 7: 6, 6: 2.
The Bulgarian never found a weapon against the opponent's powerful serve and failed to make a single break.
Moreover, he made four double mistakes and 52 unforced ones.
Tsitsipas, having won a landslide victory, established a historic achievement.
He became the first tennis player from Greece to make his way to the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
As for Rublev, after the end of the meeting with Fuchovic, he modestly admitted that he was just lucky.
The honored coach of Russia Boris Sobkin described the course of the game even more succinctly, who said that Andrei "held out".
"I think I was a little bit lucky."
🍀
Was luck on @ AndreyRublev97's side today? # RolandGarrospic.twitter.com / bJVI6LRCTF
- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 5, 2020
“It was a tough match: I lost a set, in the fourth the opponent had a triple set point, and Andryukha, roughly speaking, grinded it all up, survived.
And then he finished off Fuchovich.
Rublev succeeds in everything, he plays well, but gets tired mentally.
Andrey is getting ready when they push him against the wall.
Then character appears, "- quotes the words of the expert" Championship ".
In turn, the ex-first racket of the world Yevgeny Kafelnikov stressed that the 22-year-old Muscovite, who reached the Roland Garros so far, must set himself the task of winning the tournament.
“So far, he lives up to expectations.
Today I beat Fuchovic at the expense of moral and volitional qualities.
Now the task is to beat Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.
There are chances to reach the semifinals, ”Sport-Express quotes Kafelnikov.
Finally, the famous domestic tennis player Andrei Chesnokov said that in the confrontation between Rublev and Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals of the French Open, everything will depend on "who gets up on what foot."
“Both Tsitsipas and Rublev got hot.
The most difficult matches they had in the first round.
Today Tsitsipas played against Dimitrov just phenomenal.
Rublev acts quickly, he has very sharp blows.
We will have a good quarterfinal, in which the chances are equal, ”the expert suggested.
Djokovic's confident gait
But Khachanov, as expected, did not manage to oppose anything to the first racket of the world to Djokovic, having suffered defeat in three sets - 4: 6, 3: 6, 3: 6.
If, on his serve, Karen still imposed a fight on the favorite, then at the reception he was most often powerless.
As a result - only two realized break points out of nine and only 34% of the points won at the reception.
At some moments of the meeting, the Russian still made the Serb nervous.
For example, in the first game segment, he did not allow the opponent to serve for the set with the score 5: 3 and made the first break.
True, after that Khachanov immediately lost his serve to his opponent.
And in the eighth game of the second game, he played a triple set point.
Finally, in the third set, Karen for the first time in the match took the lead in the score, but was still defeated.
Also, the meeting was remembered for a funny episode with the participation of the first racket of the world and a referee.
Trying to get the outgoing ball, the Serb accidentally knocked it out with a racket in the referee's face and immediately apologized to the man.
No default this time.
# djokovic # rg20pic.twitter.com / iECrCdo3FS
- tennis gifs 🎾🎥 (@tennis_gifs) October 5, 2020
In general, the impression was that Djokovic played far at 100% of his capabilities.
When he increased the pace, he easily achieved the necessary advantage.
Nevertheless, according to the honored coach of Russia Vladimir Kamelzon, Khachanov played a decent match and must draw conclusions from the defeat.
“Karen upset me at one time, after all he is a player from the Top 20.
It seemed to me that he was losing motivation, but the match with Djokovic showed that he is a tough player and can continue to work.
Karen can keep aiming for the top ten if he takes away the slightly slow approach to the ball.
He does not have lightness in his legs like Djokovic, ”the specialist complained.
In turn, Novak updated his personal best, making his way to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros for the 11th time in a row.
Djokovic also reached this stage of the French Open for the 14th time in his career and repeated the result of Rafael Nadal.
At the same time, the Spaniard won this trophy 12 times, and the Serb only once.
The next rival of the strongest tennis player on the planet will be either Pablo Carreno-Busta or Daniel Altmaier.