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Andrey Rublev was made to work hard by Federico Coria in his Bastad opened but he was glad that he was able to grind out a tough win. Rublev, the second seeded player in the Bastad main draw, had a first round bye at the tournament.
On Thursday, Rublev kicked off his Bastad campaign with a tight 7-5 4-6 7-6 (2) win over 65th-ranked Coria. “The conditions were extremely tough to play in. To show a great level,” Rublev said in his on-court interview, per the ATP website.
“In the end, I am happy that I won. Federico played really well today, especially in the third set when he raised the level. It was really tough to play against, but I am really happy to win”.
Rublev avoided a surprise defeat in his Bastad opener
Rublev broke Coria in the first and third games but didn't take the advantage of it as he also lost his service games in the second and fourth games.
After blowing two early breaks, Rublev broke Coria again in the ninth game to open a 5-4 lead. But Rublev's struggles on his serve continued as Coria broke back in the 10th game to tie the set to five games apiece. Somehow, Rublev was able to put blowing three breaks behind him as he broke Coria again in the 11th game and served out for the first set in the 12th game.
After a first set which featured a total of seven breaks, only one break of serve was seen in the second set. In the 10th game - when Rublev was serving to stay in the set - Coria broke to send the match into a decider. After losing the second set, Rublev broke Coria in the third game of the third set but failed to serve out for the match in the 10th game.
Luckily for Rublev, he was able to bounce back from failing to serve out for the match as he dominated the third set tie-break to seal a quarterfinal meeting with Laslo Djere.