Cincinnati: A fearless Andrey Rublev outfoxed Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament here Thursday and in the process carried out a major upset.
Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev broke the third seeded Swiss Roger Federer in his first two service games and won 81 per cent of his first serve points to wrap up the upset in just over an hour.
The 21-year-old Andrey Rublev shed tears of joy after pulling off the biggest win of his career.
“It is such an amazing feeling when you’re playing a legend like Roger and all these people supporting him until the end,” Rublev said during an on-court interview. “One day I hope I’m going to feel the same. Today I was just trying to do my best and was thinking in my head that I need to play every point until the end no matter what,” added Rublev
In the women’s segment top seed Ashleigh Barty overcame 49 unforced errors and a stiff challenge from Anett Kontaveit to reach the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win.
On a day of epic three-set battles, French Open champion Ashleigh Barty needed more than two hours to tame her Estonian rival, rifling a forehand winner on match point.
Barty set up a meeting with Maria Sakkari, who needed even longer to dispatch Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(4-7), 6-4 6-4 on a hot and humid day.
The Hawk-Eye review system played a key role in Barty’s win when the Australian, trailing 4-5 and 15-30 in the third set, challenged a serve from Kontaveit that had been called in.
The system showed the ball was slightly long, denying Kontaveit what would have been two match points. Barty went on to win the next three games to seal the victory.
Venus Williams also went the distance before claiming a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
The 39-year-old Venus Williams has struggled at times this season but has been resilient here, defeating defending champion Kiki Bertens in three sets in the previous round.
“There are no easy matches out here,” Venus Williams said. “I cannot emphasise that enough.”
The seven-time Grand Slam champion will have her work cut out in the next round when she faces either Wimbledon champion Simona Halep or big-serving American Madison Keys.
Agencies