Rublev Is A Perfect 10

Andrey Rublev extended his perfect record in 2020 to 10 matches on Wednesday evening with a place in the third round at the Australian Open.

The Russian was solid on serve and at the net — winning 38 of his 42 first-service points (90%) and 8/10 net points respectively — in a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(5) over Yuichi Sugita of Japan in one hour and 53 minutes.

Rublev, the No. 17 seed, who also reached the 2018 third round (l. to Dimitrov), will next look to beat Belgian No. 11 seed David Goffin or Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France on Saturday. He beat Goffin at the 2017 US Open and Herbert in the recent Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old Rublev has lost just three sets in 10 matches this season, which includes back-to-back ATP Tour titles in the first two weeks at Doha (d. Moutet) and the Adelaide International (d. Harris).

Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty was the last man to capture two trophies in as many weeks to open a season in 2004. Former World No. 12 Hrbaty won his first 11 matches that year, including title runs in Adelaide (d. Llodra) and the ASB Classic in Auckland (d. Nadal), before falling to Sebastien Grosjean in the 2004 Australian Open third round.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/36o94op