Rublev rallies to hold off Daniel

Sixth seed requires more than three hours to stop Japanese world No.80

Andrey Rublev, first round, Roland-Garros 2024©️Philippe Montigny / FFT
 - Dan Imhoff

Andrey Rublev has a knack for doing it tough at the first hurdle in Paris.

In his sixth main draw showing, the No.6 seed continued a trend of surrendering at least a set every time – on this occasion to Japan’s Taro Daniel, before he prevailed.

Twice before he was not so fortunate.

Heart-on-sleeve moments are par for the course when Rublev takes onlookers along for the ride and Sunday proved no exception before he snuffed out the world No.80’s charge 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 on Court Simonne-Mathieu.

Story of the match

The opening round had become quite the stumbling block for Rublev since his debut in 2017.

He had triumphed in just one of three five-set tussles at that stage in Paris and has been seriously tested in four-set victories now in each of the past three years.

Four straight Masters 1000 losses set a worrying precedent this year before he turned a corner in Madrid where he picked up his second trophy at that level, a success he hailed the “proudest title of my career”.

Momentum means everything to Rublev and despite an early exit in Rome, he was able to draw on that welcome shot of confidence from the Spanish capital in tricky situations on Sunday.

Early on, he consistently hit through his opponent and used the blustery conditions to his advantage as he delicately feathered a drop shot winner to open the second set.

Andrey Rublev, first round, Roland-Garros 2024©Philippe Montigny / FFT

He survived a struggle on serve two games later when he fended off six break points to hold but was unable to shake the Japanese 31-year-old, who came into the match 0-6 against top-10 opponents at the majors.

From 0-2 down in the tie-break Daniel took control and levelled the match on back-to-back unreturnable backhands down the line.

When Rublev missed an early break point chance in the third set his frustrations finally bubbled over.

>> MEN'S DRAW

>> ALL THE RESULTS

This was not the kind of protracted affair the 2014 boys’ champion had in mind and a little vent did not do his cause any harm as he broke twice to once again take the lead.

As the contest ticked over three hours and 11 minutes, Rublev broke to set a second-round showdown with Spaniard Pedro Martinez or Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante.

Key stats

Rublev improved his record in Paris to 11-5 and his tour-level record against Daniel to 3-0 but has ample room for improvement if he is to ramp up his bid to reach the second week and potentially break his Grand Slam quarter-final duck.

The 26-year-old did not lose a point in the opening set when he landed his first serve and ended up claiming 89 per cent of first-serve points. His 17 aces were somewhat offset by nine double faults.

Daniel failed to capitalise on any of seven break points, but Rublev wasn’t exactly a model of efficiency either, converting just five of his 15 chances.

Rublev's assessment

“I feel a bit relieved that the match was over in four sets, but still I had a feeling during the match that I had not lost my serve, which also was giving me some confidence.

"I had a feeling that I had a lot of break points in the second set. I had a lot of 15-30 second serves. I felt that almost every returning game I have chances... In the end I'm happy that I was able in the last moment from 5-all when he had two break points, I was able to play good rallies and then I was able to finally break him.

On how his Madrid title restored his confidence: "The title in Madrid helped me a lot because I'm playing again really good tennis. In general, the title in Madrid I think it's the most special out of all that I had."