Top seed Rublev battles past young gun
Russian overcomes second-set slump to see off France’s Fils in quarter-finals
Andrey Rublev battled his way into the semi-finals of the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open, beating Arthur Fils in three sets.
The Russian withstood some powerful hitting and a one-sided second set to see off the French teen 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 at Victoria Park.
Rublev had called his second-round victory over Liam Broady on Thursday “stressful”, but said the quarter-final was “the opposite”.
“I was feeling really comfortable on court,” Rublev said. “I was feeling the ball really good, and Arthur [Fils], I think he played also really good tennis.
“Arthur played really well in the beginning of the second set when he broke me, and then it was 3-0, and then he played one more good game and it was 4-0 out of nowhere. I didn’t really even have chances.”
The reverse was true in the deciding set, with Rublev jumping out to a 3-0 lead, which left him feeling “a bit better”.
Early in proceedings, there had been little to suggest the match would open up as much as it did, with Fils paying the price for putting two forehand returns into the net as Rublev broke to go 2-1 up in the first set.
Fils still had opportunities to get level, but a wayward first serve and inability to win points on his second always left him behind.
Finding that first serve, and the ability to start moving his opponent around the court, gave Fils the upper hand in the second set, and after breaking Rublev he raced away to a 5-0 lead.
The Russian at least avoided the ignominy of being blanked, taking the sixth game, but at that point it was Fils who looked like he was on the verge of the last four.
But the 19-year-old sent three shots long in his first game of the decider, recovered to save two break points and saved another when Rublev had the advantage, only to double-fault, putting the Russian 2-0 up.
Fils still had openings. At 4-2 down, he had Rublev in trouble at 15-40, but the world No 5 fought back to deuce and then sent two wide aces to end any realistic chance he had of losing.