World Tennis Continental Cup Round-up: Rublev completes stunning comeback against Vacherot as Cobolli and Bencic exert revenge in mixed doubles clash

Andrey Rublev produced a stunning comeback in his matchup against Valentin Vacherot in the World Tennis Continental Cup. After surviving two match points, he clawed his way back to win 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-7 in a thriller to keep Team World ahead of Team Europe.

The exhibition in Shenzhen has already seen a lot of dramatic matchups in the opening two days. On day one, Belinda Bencic and Iga Swiatek picked up crucial wins for Team Europe in their singles matches. The roles were reversed when Chinese duo Zhizhen Zhang and Xinyu Wang defeated Flavio Cobolli and Swiatek respectively. 

It was now down to Vacherot and Rublev to compete for their teams. The duo came into the match with different trajectories. Thanks to the incredible Shanghai Masters title run, the Monegasque is now firmly on the tennis map, shooting right up the order into the top 40 in the world as he currently sits 31. From being virtually unknown to a dangerous prospect to face. This includes Rublev who has been at the top of the rankings for years thanks to consistent deep runs in big events. However, this has dried up in a very disappointing 2025 for the Russian, seeing him finish the year outside the top 10 for the first time since 2019. His ambitions to return to the top begin now as he looks to build some consistency.

In a first meeting between them, it was Vacherot who was faster out of the blocks. He won the first set in imperious fashion, winning it 6-2 as he broke the Rublev serve before going up 4-1 in the second set. It looked like it would be another big coup for the 27-year-old. However, Rublev had other ideas. He won three games on the spin before holding his serve to level at 5-5. Vacherot found himself 40-15 ahead at 6-5, with two opportunities for the match. These were squandered and Rublev forced a tense tiebreaker. He kept his cool and used his vast experience to win the set, forcing a final 10-point tiebreaker to separate the pair. They were sticking with one another throughout. With the score at 7-7, Rublev then made a dash for the finishing line, sealing the victory in a huge turnaround.

They were then allowed to sit on the sidelines and rest from their battle. The final match of the day would be a mixed doubles tie between the victorious Chinese duo of Zhang and Wang against Cobolli and Bencic looking for revenge. They would come out victorious 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

The Italian and Swiss tennis players were ahead in the early stages and won the first set. They looked like it would be a simple straight sets win, but the Chinese pair fought their way back. After finding themselves 4-2 down, they fought their way back into the contest. They forced an enthralling tiebreaker for the crowd to enjoy, but Cobolli and Bencic would prevail.

An exhilarating day three is in line for December 28. Vacherot and Zhang will kick off proceedings with Bencic facing off against the WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina. Rublev and Cobolli is the third matchup with the fourth and final match of the World Tennis Continental Cup see Vacherot and Swiatek take on Rublev and Rybakina.