Andrey Rublev books his ticket into the quarterfinals! 🎟️ After over four hours, he outlasts hometown hero Alex De Minaur in a five-set thriller 🔥 #AusOpen
MATCH REPORT | 2024 Australian Open: Rampant RUBLEV ends run of home hope DE MINAUR in five-set epic
ATPSunday, 21 January 2024 at 13:29
A match that on paper that was always going to deliver closed out the schedule in the early hours of the morning at the 2024 Australian Open as World No.5, Andrey Rublev toppled World No.10 and home hero, Alex de Minaur in a five-set epic in Melbourne.
Lasting over four hours, the crunch point came in the final set as De Minaur came from two sets down to take the lead 2-1, but in a match that ebbed and flowed, Rublev had the last laugh as he produced his best tennis in the final stanza to claim the win 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0.
In the opening set of the tie amid a ton of ferocious hitting between the pair, it was the sheer power of Rublev that proved to be timely as the pace of the forehand diminished any sort of speed that De Minaur was handing out. De MInaur got out of trouble on his serve initially but handed it to Rublev on a plate in the opening set.
But two tie-break sets back to back brought the added drama as Rublev was solid from the back of the court and De Minaur was attempting to find any sort of margin to exploit and he did so in the deciding tie-break as he defied logic hitting a ball around the net post in one of the shots of the tournaments and amid being behind, he rallied to seal the tie-break and level it up.
Rublev started to look sluggish at the start of the third set while De MInaur's crowd were spurred up and ready to cheer on their man. The latter started to feel more comfortable and thundered down an ace to go 5-2 up in the third. But Rublev started to find his game again and De Minaur also handed him a gift with a double fault to send it back on serve. The Aussie kept edging ahead but it was still another tie-break situation for De Minaur despite having the lead and seemingly being on his way to going 2-1 up.
But Rublev started to implode and De Minaur rose again to go one set away. The sheer grit and determination after having it snatched away from him saw Rublev be the one to go into the next set with the momentum as Katie Boulter, Alex de Minaur's girlfriend was living every moment and so was Rublev as he broke after a double fault and an unreturnable backhand to go 2-0 up.
Rublev went 3-0 up and was infuriated again as De Minaur just wouldn't give up and he made it 3-2. De Minaur broke back but so did Rublev to go 4-2 up and this held the key in the set as Rublev rattled through his service games from there. Rublev was locked in from there though in the decider, his ball striking was out of this world and as De Minaur kept flagging, the Russian was there.
He went 5-0 up with a break but was starting to cramp albeit he still secured it and brought up a first match point but handed two break opportunities to De MInaur in the following points instead as he had two to make it 5-1 as Rublev looked to tighten up with the finishing line in sight. But after surviving yet another break point, the Russian roared again as he sealed the win and a bagel in the final set. Utterly sublime tennis.
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