Rublev Comes Out Swinging In Beijing

Russian Andrey Rublev continued his top form on Monday at the China Open in Beijing, easing into the second round with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over US Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian was bidding for his 300th tour-level singles win.

Rublev won 76 per cent of his first-serve points (26/34) and broke Dimitrov twice in each set to advance in 75 minutes. The 21-year-old has won 12 of his past 16 matches and is now tied 2-2 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Dimitrov. Next up for Rublev is sixth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini or Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin.

Monday’s schedule also features second-seeded German Alexander Zverev taking on American Frances Tiafoe and fourth-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov squaring off against Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas.