After a firm victory in straight sets over the Austrian Dominic Thiem in the first round, the Russian Andrey Rublev had a little more work this Thursday against the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori, who took a set, but did not avoid the victory of the fifth pre-classified with a final score of 6/2, 6/4, 6/7 (2-7) and 6/3.
At least Rublev has already guaranteed a repeat of last season’s campaign at the Australian Open, when he was also the fifth favorite and fell in the third round, against Croatian Marin Cilic. His best performance in the competition was in 2021, when he reached the quarterfinals and stopped at compatriot Daniil Medvedev.
To try to reach the round of 16, the Russian will have to overcome the British Daniel Evans in the next match, who asserted his status as the 25th seed and knocked out the French veteran Jeremy Chardy in straight sets, scoring partials of 6/4, 6/4 and 6/1 to beat the rival for the fourth time in five clashes.
The 32-year-old British also repeats the result of 2022, when he went to the third round. His best performance at Melbourne Park came in 2017, when he reached the round of 16, which is also one of his best career Grand Slam campaigns.
It will be the ninth time that Rublev and Evans will meet, six of them at the ATP level and the other two at futures, challengers or qualifiers. The two are deadlocked, with three wins for each side in the main events and one in the minors. The retrospective tiebreaker will take place in the first meeting between them in Grand Slam.
