Hong Kong Tennis Open: Rublev overcomes ‘stressful’ start to beat Broady and advance to quarter-finals
- Top seed Andrey Rublev wins second-round encounter at Victoria Park 6-4, 7-6, will face Arthur Fils in last eight
- Other matches on Friday will see Sebastian Ofner take on Roberto Bautista, while Frances Tiafoe faces Shang Juncheng
Andrey Rublev shook off some rust and a stubborn opponent to move into the quarter-finals of the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open on Thursday.
The top-seeded Russian beat qualifier Liam Broady 6-4, 7-6 at Victoria Park, but needed a healthy dose of luck to overcome the Briton, who battled back from 4-1 down and a medical timeout in the first set and was 3-1 up in the second.
Either could have won the tiebreak before Rublev got 9-8 up on serve, and the match ended when Broady’s final shot of another long rally clipped the net and flew out.
Rublev, who faces Arthur Fils in the last eight on Friday, said the match had been “a bit stressful”, given it was his first singles outing of the season and he did not know what to expect, while Broady was playing his fourth game of the week.
“In my case it looks like I have more pressure because I’m the higher seed and there are more expectations,” Rublev said, adding Broady could play freely because he had “nothing to lose”.