Rublev survives late Carreno Busta push to advance to second round

World No. 6 Andrey Rublev defeated Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in a heated match in the first round of the China Open tournament. While the Spaniard frustrated Rublev throughout the latter half of the match, Rublev regained control of his emotions and successfully saw out the tightly-fought third set.

In the players’ first meeting since 2019, Rublev set the pace early by serving three aces to race out to a 1-0 lead. He looked at ease as he built on this momentum in the second game, and a costly Busta double-fault at 30-40 resulted in Rublev going up 2-0.

No matter what Carreno Busta threw at Rublev, the No. 4 seed always seemed to have an answer. He also placed serves to near perfection, enabling him to breeze through the rest of the set with an unbroken run of winning games.

As the second set got under way, Rublev seemed to be in full control, winning his serve easily. Afterwards, however, Carreno Busta was able to find his first foothold in the match, defending two break points and going on to win his first game.

At this point, the Lotus Court crowd came to life, backing Carreno Busta as he established himself. However, he couldn’t garner the momentum to break Rublev, as each server traded games through the first half of the second set.

In the seventh game, however, Rublev’s previously invisible emotions came to life, as he sailed a forehand past the opposite baseline, to which he responded by screaming at his racquet. This didn’t prove to be enough, however, as Carreno Busta would go on to win his first break of the match. Again, Rublev showed his frustration, this time by banging his racquet on his knees.

Something about this outburst worked; Rublev ended up breaking Carreno Busta’s serve in the ensuing game, tying the set at 4-4. However, Carreno Busta regained his footing and responded by breaking Rublev’s serve in the next game. Down 4-5, Rublev couldn’t control his returns, as Busca won four straight points to take the second set.

The first point in the third set was also the first extended rally of the match. Rublev won this and followed it up with strong serves, with an ace to win the first game. However, Busta responded with strong serves of his own, allowing Rublev only one point as he tied the set at 1-1.

The set continued in this fashion, as each player looked uncomfortable in the return position. The two players exchanged service games through the third set, as the match came to a storming, tight finish. At 5-4, on Busta’s serve, Rublev finally found strong returns and was able to win a big rally to put himself up 40-15. Busta then smashed a shot into the net, giving Rublev the win.

Rublev will go on to face another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in the second round. Davidovich Fokina boasts a world ranking of No. 64. Rublev has won all four of their previous matchups, most recently in Madrid earlier this year.

—Reporting by Reade Snelling