Rublev Powers Past Kwon In Rotterdam
Reigning champion Andrey Rublev continued his love affair with the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament Thursday, moving past Soonwoo Kwon 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals in Rotterdam.
The Russian, who has now won his past seven matches at the ATP 500 event, looked in control against Kwon as he crushed forehands and hammered backhands in a brutal ball-striking display to advance after 79 minutes.
“The first set was a high level with long, high intensity rallies,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “My heart was beating fast. I am happy I was able to win the match in straight sets. He likes to play from the baseline and from the first point we had long rallies. You quickly realise it is going to be a tough match and that you are going to need to run a lot.”
[FOLLOW ACTION]The second seed arrived in Rotterdam aiming to build momentum following his disappointing third-round defeat against Marin Cilic at the Australian Open in January. Rublev, who fired 17 winners against Kwon, has yet to drop a set at the indoor-hard tournament this week.
With his victory, the 24-year-old now leads Kwon 1-0 in their ATP Head2Head series and will next play World No. 38 Marton Fucsovics or Dutch wild card Tallon Griekspoor.
Nur-Sultan champion Kwon was aiming to reach the quarter-finals at an ATP 500 event for just the second time, having advanced to the last eight in Acapulco in 2020.
Earlier, Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka continued his dream run by defeating Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 after one hour and 59 minutes.
The World No. 137 earned his maiden tour-level win over World No. 12 Denis Shapovalov in the first round and backed this up against van de Zandschulp, firing four aces to triumph in their first ATP Head2Head meeting. Lehecka will play #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.
“I tried to play my best and as we saw in the second and third sets, it was good,” Lehecka said in his on-court interview. “In the first set, they were many bad choices from my side and my serve didn’t work well. In the second set I focused on improving my serve and first few shots after the serve and return. It was a pretty good match and I am happy with the win.”