From The Vault: Rublev & Tsitsipas First Pro Meeting In Quimper 2017
On Wednesday, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet for a coveted spot in the Roland Garros semi-finals. The stage doesn’t get any bigger for the 22-year-olds, who have been battling ever since they first announced their arrivals in 2017.
It was that year that Rublev and Tsitsipas met for the first time as professionals and made their debuts in the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. At the time, they were just teenagers looking to establish themselves on the scene. From battling in the first round of a Challenger to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, what a difference three years can make.
We open the vault ahead of the biggest encounter of their budding rivalry, going back to 2017 when they battled on the ATP Challenger Tour in Quimper, France.
Rublev was the defending champion at the Open Quimper Bretagne Occidentale, having lifted his lone Challenger trophy one year earlier. He would triumph 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7), saving two match points after one hour and 55 minutes.