Andrey Rublev makes winning start at the Dubai Championships

Defending champion Andrey Rublev made a winning start at the Dubai Championships beating Filip Krajinovic in two sets 7-5 6-2 to secure the second round.

Rublev hasn't been playing that well recently and he's had some bad losses. He did well in Australia but stumbled early in Doha and Rotterdam with his tennis improving slowly. Today was another bad start as Krajinovic jumped out to an early lead which he held for a while. Eventually, he gave Rublev chances and the Russian took advantage of it by breaking back.

He not only did that, he also added another break to finish off the set 7-5. The second set was much more straightforward for Rublev who took an early lead and held it for the rest of the match. This was a much-needed win for Rublev as he was able to get it done in two sets which should give him a lot of confidence moving forward.