Andrey Rublev “Rublo” picks up first win of UTS Frankfurt as Chris Eubanks “The Rocket” misfires
The Russian’s win means everyone is still alive in his round-robin group
Tennis Majors
Andrey Rublev – aka “Rublo” – picked up his first win of UTS Frankfurt by Builder.ai as he beat a misfiring Chris Eubanks – “The Rocket” – 3-0 on Saturday in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,000.
The world No 6 had cut a frustrated figure on his UTS debut on Friday but he lifted his game a few levels to get the better of the American, who won his opener 24 hours before, winning it 18-12, 18-12, 20-15.
The result means Rublev is still alive in his round-robin group, with a 1-1 record – and nothing is yet decided – although Diego Schwartzman “El Peque” is in charge after two wins from two matches on day one.
“I feel great,” Rublev said. “To win a match – it was not easy yesterday, a lot of stress for me because it was my first time. The countdown was stressing me a lot, I felt I had no time at all. But today I was a bit less stressed and I was able to win, so I’m happy.”
Rublo makes sharp start
The match began with a few technical glitches, which saw a brief stoppage at 2-0 to Rublev. The interruption didn’t seem to break the Russian’s rhythm, though, as he romped to an 8-3 lead, helped by a couple of faults from Eubanks.
There was a scare for fans of Rublo when he hit the deck at 8-4 but he gave Eubanks the thumbs up and continued. At 5-9, though, The Rocket sprung into life, hammering a forehand return winner – while using his next point x 3 card to move within a point.
But Rublev used his card on the next point and won it when The Rocket drifted a backhand slice wide. With two minutes to go, Rublo had a healthy five-point lead at 14-9 but Wimbledon quarter-finalist Eubanks was not done yet. He got to 11-15 with one minute to go and Rublev sprayed a forehand long to make the lead just three points. But after extending his lead to 17-12 at the end of the first quarter, he won the first point in quarter points to seal the quarter 18-12
“I’m happy that I won the first quarter but we’ll see, everything can change so fast,” he said. Asked if he was enjoying the UTS rules, he was typically honest. “No, too stressful,” he said.
Rublo rides momentum to double his lead
There was not much stress for Rublo at the start of the second quarter as he raced to a 5-0 lead, The Rocket misfiring with a couple of faults at bad times.
Rublev led 9-3 before Eubanks woke up, ripping a backhand down the line as he got close at 9-7 down. At 8-10, he was in charge of the point but Rublev raced to his right and rolled a forehand pass across him for a winner.
Eubansk went or his next point x 3 card and it worked perfectly as he put a forehand away to make it 11-11 with 1.30 on the clock. Rublev won the next point and then used his card and got the reward when Eubanks rolled the return long, to make it 15-11. Leading 17-12 at the end, he then won the first quarters point, to double his lead.
At the end of the first quarter, Eubanks said he wanted to find out why Rublo hits the ball so hard. The answer was simple. “If I don’t hit hard, Chris will hit hard,” he said.
Rublev too strong again
Eubanks won the first point thanks to a little luck, prompting his coach to say: “things are changing” but Rublev immediately put his foot on the accelerator again, forging ahead 6-1.
That seemed to make up Eubanks’ mind as he went for broke, getting himself back to 7-9 with some massive hitting. At 12-9, Eubansk played his next card wins 3 and cut the deficit to one, but just as in the second quarter, Rublev used his card on the very next point and won it to move clear again.
Rublo led 19-13 when the time ran out, leaving Eubanks one last chance – to win seven points in a row – and though Eubanks banged a big serve down and won the first two, Rublev thumped a forehand up the line for a winner and his first victory of this competition.
Eubansk rued his serve, which gave up nine free points. “My second serve is pretty reliable usually but Andrey applied a lot of pressure and I felt like I had to go big, so it’s a result of his returning,” he said.
