Andrey Rublev looks forward to his next Australian Open challenge

The 7th seed Andrey Rublev advanced to the third round in Melbourne, beating Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 in two hours and eight minutes, scoring his sixth victory of the season.

Unlike in the opening round, Andrey had to work hard to beat the Brazilian and reach the last 32, blasting 16 aces and saving all four break chances. Monteiro gave his best to stay in touch, defending seven out of nine break points and missing a massive opportunity for sending the encounter into the fourth set after creating three set points at 5-4 in the third. Andrey stayed calmed and erased those, leveling the score at 5-5 and repelling another set point in the breaker before prevailing 10-8.

"It was tough. I've trained with Thiago a couple of times and played him once before. I lost that match, and I knew it was going to be tough and physical. I was happy I could win it in straight sets. I'm feeling well. Thankfully I have not played long matches yet, so physically, I'm feeling great. I'm fully charged for the next round; we will see. Since I was a kid, I was going around my forehand and trying to hit from that wing. I gathered power on my forehand early on in my career, and nothing has changed until now," Andrey Rublev said.