By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Top seeded Casper Ruud and second-seeded Andrey Rublev won three-set tests in Hamburg.
Photo credit: Hamburg European Open Facebook
Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev faced off in the Bastad final on Sunday.
The top two seeds survived tough tests in their Hamburg Open openers today.
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The second-seeded Rublev denied three match points edging Bernabe Zapata Miralles 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(7) in a thriller that spanned two hours, 52 minutes.
Down and seemingly out at 4-6 in the decisive tiebreaker, Rublev dug in to deny two match points.
On the Spaniard's third match point at 7-6 Rublev ripped a forehand to draw even at 7-all.
Rublev, who conceded he felt he was outplayed for much of the match, continued to battle scoring his fifth consecutive victory.
"The feeling was that I was playing well and it was under control, but somehow I lost the first set and was frustrated," Rublev said. "I came back and recovered mentally and won a really good second set. The third set was tough. I started to get tired and nervous, because the score is going to the tie-break and I didn't have many chances to break him.
"The feeling was that he deserved to win. He was fighting like crazy from tough scores. When I went 0-3 [down], I started to stress a lot. But then I played two amazing rallies and told myself to keep fighting, keep fighting...
"It is amazing I was able to win."
Rublev, who beat Ruud to win his 14th title in Bastad on Sunday, raised his 2023 record to 40-14 and will play Daniel Altmaier next.
The top-seeded Ruud withstood a second-set lapse stopping Sebastian Baez 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
World No. 4 Ruud raised his 2023 record to 27-14 with 21 of those 27 victories coming on his beloved red clay.
Ruud, who has won 10 of his last 12 matches on dirt, will play Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin in the round of 16.
Nineteen year old Frenchman Luca Van Assche surprised seventh-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Van Assche will face the winner of the all-German showdown between fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev or Maximilian Marterer next.