Rublev to keep it going

After a first round in diesel mode, is Rublev up and running?

Very tricky first round for the Russian against Wu but in the end it was handled really well. He weathered the storm before gradually raising his level as the match went on, and ended like a cannonball. His attitude overall was good in my opinion, which is an important sign for him. He got a bit frustrated at the start of the match, but it didn’t affect his level and he managed to rise above his irritation and then roll through afterwards.

Good match from Borges against Cilic, who managed to contain the Croatian’s attacks, even though Cilic was quite disappointing yesterday. As in the first round, Borges was focused, disciplined, and managed to play fairly deep, which didn’t allow Cilic to be aggressive in the right conditions. A second win in full control for him here.

Except now it’s a completely different opponent in front of him. I see Rublev as a kind of upgraded version of the Portuguese. They both have a rather one-dimensional game with baseline rhythm, relatively flat shots and few variations, but the Russian does everything better. He’s more aggressive, more powerful, simply stronger. I don’t see many weapons in the Portuguese player’s game to trouble Rublev and, following on from his good first round, I think we can trust him here. The head-to-head backs this up, with two wins on hard court, each one very comfortable.