Andrey Rublev defeated
Marton Fucsovics yet again while Shapovalov failed to win his match against a very solid
Hubert Hurkacz.
For the 4th time in a month, Andrey Rublev got the better of Marton Fucsovics. The Hungarian was visibly frustrated after his Dubai loss so much so that he jokingly told Rublev that he hopes he won't play him again this year. Well, fast forward a week and he not only played him again, but he also lost.
This was the most impressive victory of all of them as Rublev completely dominated Fucsovics from the start. He knew exactly what his weaknesses were and he exploited them fully. The match lasted only 54 minutes and Rublev won it 6-2 6-1.
Joining him in the next round will be Hubert Hurkacz who got the better of
Denis Shapovalov. Interestingly prior to the match, Shapovalov was considered a huge favorite but Hurkacz lead the H2H 2-1 He added yet another victory today. The pole played a perfect opening set.
He served well and defended well when Shapovalov attacked him. He saved three break points en route to the 6-3 finish. Shapovalov allowed only one break point but Hurkacz was clinical using it and that lost him the opening set. The 2nd set was stellar from both as we did not see any break points.
Naturally, we ended up in a tiebreak and in an exciting one, we saw Hurkacz came out on top 8-6. It was a huge win for Hubert who did not have a good 2021 so far. This victory certainly changes that especially if he goes farther at the
Miami Open.