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Andrey Rublev qualified for the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2024 by beating Alex de Minaur with a score of 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-7 (4) 6-3 6-0, after a 4-hour battle on the Rod Laver Arena, with the crowd all in support of the Australian tennis player.
Rublev will face Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. It will be a match full of meaning for the Russian tennis player, who has never reached the quarter-finals in a Slam. Andrey has a negative score of 0-9 at this stage of the Major competition and tomorrow he will try to break this curse.
After beating the Australian De Minaur, Rublev analyzed the match that awaits him against the Italian, also talking about the curse that has always punctually awaited him in the Slam quarterfinals.
"Jannik Sinner had a surreal season last year and is off to a good start now. He beat me the last time we faced each other, in the semi-final of the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna, I don't know what to say. I think I'm in trouble. I'll try to do my best and we'll see what happens. I hope I can put him in trouble. Curious expressions during the match? I don't know what's going through my head. Sometimes it feels like a horror movie. Through so many ups and downs in my mind."
Jannik's words
Sinner, in the 4th round, overcame the other Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-5 6-3 without giving up a set and analyzed the match that will see him protagonist on Tuesday.
"I will face the next match with a smile. When one is happy to live his passion, playing another match represents a new opportunity. Andrey has improved a lot, he fights for every ball and if I want to win I have to show good tennis," explained Sinner.
On the win against Khachanov, Jannik analyzed: "It's been a while since I faced Karen, we faced each other here in 2021 and it was a very tough match. It's always difficult to play against him, I tried to stay in the match physically and mentally Thanks to you, it's always a pleasure to play in front of this crowd.
Every battle has its own story, today I won and I'm obviously very happy. We have a fairly similar game, we hit flat, hard, it's a bit of a ping competition -pong. I tried to vary the game a bit and it worked. I think I played that point well, tennis sometimes gives you some disappointments. But I try to keep a poker face."