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Andrey Rublev hilariously struggled while attempting to safely catch and remove a cricket during his Australian Open third-round meeting but the whole situation had a positive end to it.
In the first set of his match against Sebastian Korda at Melbourne Park, Rublev noticed a cricket near the baseline. Rublev, who is known in the locker room as one of the kindest people on the Tour, didn't want to hurt the cricket.
Instead, Rublev attempted to gently catch the cricket with his hands. But the cricket was constantly avoiding getting caught, giving Rublev a hard time. Since Rublev was struggling to catch the cricket, that prompted some laughs from the crowd.
But then, two ball kids came to help Rublev and the cricket was finally caught. After catching the cricket, one of the ball kids took the insect courtside and safely removed it. The ball kid received cheers and the whole arena enjoyed the situation and was happy with the outcome.
Andrey v the cricket 🦗
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2024
A battle you never knew you needed 😅#AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/4Jz6Gcp1am
Rublev helps save a cricket, then beats Korda
After giving his best to save a cricket, No. 5 seed Rublev handled the business on the court as he saw off 26th-ranked Korda 6-2 7-6 (6) 6-4 to set up an Australian Open round-of-16 meeting against Alex de Minaur.
In the first set, Rublev and Korda were tied to two games apiece before the Russian claimed back-to-back breaks in the sixth and eighth games to win four games in a row and seal the opener. After not a single break point was seen in the second set - the set went into a tie-break - where Rublev realized his second set point at 7-6 to go up by two sets.
After winning a tight second set, Rublev also broke Korda in the third game of the third set. Up by two sets and a break, Rublev held on to his serve for the rest of the third set to complete a three-set win.