Rublev regains composure in latest win of hectic span

BARCELONA • Andrey Rublev revealed he had accepted a wild card for Barcelona in the belief that his participation in last week's Monte Carlo Masters would come to a halt against Rafael Nadal.

However, the Russian pulled off a shock win over the 20-time Major winner, who had been seeking his 12th title in the principality, in the quarter-finals.

Although he went on lose in the final to Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world No. 7 remains one of the in-form players of the ATP Tour.

He has reached at least the quarter-finals of every tournament he has entered this year, including his victory at Rotterdam last month.

Barcelona will be his sixth tournament in just two months and while Rublev admitted there may be a little bit of burnout, he managed to fight past Italian lucky loser Federico Gaio yesterday, winning his last-32 match 6-4, 6-3.

The 23-year-old cut an irritated figure on court and was visibly unhappy with the tension in his rackets, but later claimed it was a hangover from his loss in Monaco.

"It was more mental today," said Rublev. "It was the way I was behaving after what I was trying to do in Monte-Carlo.

"I got the win, which is the most important thing, but I do feel angry. When you're not thinking, you're always trying to find excuses, but I need to control my emotions."

Rublev will next play Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who defeated Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 6-4, yesterday.

Following Barcelona, Rublev will take a week off before back-to-back Masters 1000 events on clay in Madrid and Rome next month.

At the same tournament, fifth-ranked Greek Tsitsipas got his campaign under way with a straightforward 6-0, 6-2 victory over Spain's Jaume Munar to set up a clash with Australian Alex de Minaur today.

Having won his first Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo, the second seed has momentum here - he has won 23 of his 28 matches this year - and he wants to go a step further on Barcelona clay, after reaching the 2018 final.

"It's great to be able to play tennis like this today, even with a little rain in the second set," said Tsitsipas. "I think I dealt with the situation well. I was serving well and felt comfortable from the baseline. I tried to be aggressive. My shots were working and I was trying to hit winners from all parts of the court."

"My first final here was the beginning of my journey on the ATP Tour and I had a great run," he added. "I would say back then I was 18, 19 years old. I just got introduced to the ATP Tour and having a run like this was at the top of my appearances."

At the WTA Stuttgart Open, there were no shocks in the last 32 as German Angelique Kerber, a winner here in 2018, defeated Georgian qualifier Ekaterine Gorgodze 6-2, 6-2.

Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova beat Germany's Tamara Korpatsch 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, while 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko eliminated Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 7-5.

REUTERS

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