Rublev Rolls, Earns Russia 1-0 Lead Against Japan

Andrey Rublev produced another dominant performance on Wednesday, as he defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-3 to move Russia to the brink of ATP Cup semi-final qualification.

The World No. 8 converted five of his eight break points to overcome Nishioka in 64 minutes. Rublev has lost just seven games across his two singles encounters at this year’s event. On Tuesday, the Russian No. 2 defeated Guido Pella 6-1, 6-2 in one hour.

"I played really well today... I'm happy the way I'm playing. I'm happy that I'm feeling confident in my shots, that I'm trying to go big and in the end I feel that I will make it," said Rublev. "I was missing this feeling, I was missing competing and the first two matches went really well so we'll see what's going to happen next."

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Russia is now just one win away from reaching the semi-finals for the second straight year. Daniil Medvedev will attempt to clinch that position with victory against Kei Nishikori in the No. 1 singles match.

"I will go support my team and I hope we will do well. I know Daniil's going to give his best and... we'll see what's going to happen," said Rublev. "We have a great team. It's true. But here all the best teams are. So many countries have amazing teams. And then there is only spots for four countries. So not everyone will make it. We'll see."

From 40/0 in the opening game of the match, Rublev dropped five consecutive points to lose his serve. It was the only mistake he made in an impressive first set. The Russian responded with six straight games, as he took the ball early and ripped multiple inside-out forehand winners.

Rublev continued to place pressure on Nishioka’s serve in the second set and he earned two further breaks to clinch his first victory in two ATP Head2Head clashes against the Japanese. Nishioka won the pair’s opening clash 6-3, 6-1 in Sydney two years ago.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3cz3vdB