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Andrey Rublev clinched a straight-set win over Karen Khachanov but afterward admitted it wasn't really a peaceful day at the office for him. In the Monte Carlo round-of-16, Rublev defeated Khachanov 7-6 (4) 6-2 to progress.
"All the match I wanted to destroy everything around me," Rublev said after beating Khachanov.
Even though Rublev was able to get the job done in straight sets, he acknowledged that it definitely wasn't an easy match.Andrey Rublev, who just beat Karen Khachanov in extremely routine straight sets:
"All the match I wanted to destroy everything around me." — Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) April 13, 2023
"We know each other too well. The first set was only mental. We didn't show some tennis skills. But it was tough to show skills because the wind was really hard and the court was slippery and it was tough to do something. The first set was super mental.
As soon as I was able to win a set, I started to feel more free and I felt Karen felt more down, so that was the difference," Rublev said.
How Rublev defeated Khachanov?
In the first set, both players firmly held on to their serves as not a single break point was seen.
The first set was a pretty tight contest until the tie-break, where Rublev opened a comfortable 4-0 lead. There was no coming back for Khachanov after losing the first four set points of the tie-break as Rublev converted his second set point to win the first set.
After a first set without a single break point, the second set started with Khachanov breaking Rublev in the first game of the match. Shortly after the first break of the match, the second break happened as well as Rublev broke back Khachanov in the second game to tie the set to one game apiece.
After getting the break back, Rublev broke Khachanov again in the fourth game to open a 3-1 lead in the second set. In the eighth game - when Khachanov was serving to stay in the match - Rublev earned his third break of the second set to complete a two-set win. Rublev plays next against Jan-Lennard Struff.