Australian Open 2021 - Andrey Rublev continues fine run with easy win over Feliciano Lopez

Updated 13/02/2021 at 06:54 GMT

Andrey Rublev is into the fourth round of the Australian Open. The 2021 Australian Open is live on Eurosport. Watch every match live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk. You can download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now. The opening Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne runs from February 8 until February 21.

Andrey Rublev

Image credit: Getty Images

Andrey Rublev has moved into the fourth round of the Australian Open without dropping a set after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez on Margaret Court Arena.

Rublev made easy work of Yannick Hanfmann and Thiago Monteiro in the first and second rounds, and he secured his seventh win in a row on Saturday to reach the fourth round for the second successive year.

The Russian seventh seed had little trouble overcoming the 35-year-old Spaniard, who in the last round became the oldest player to recover from two sets down and win a match in a slam since Ken Rosewall in Wimbledon 1974.

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Lopez's serving caused Rublev some problems in the first set, but eventually the 23-year-old would break him at 6-5. The next two sets were more routine for Rublev as he broke once in both to complete the tie in one hour and 33 minutes.

Rublev will play Norwegian Casper Ruud in the fourth round as he bids to win his maiden Australian Open title.

RUBLEV: I FEEL PHYSICALLY GREAT

“We are good friends," he said post-match. "I knew it was going to be a tough match because the way he’s playing… his amazing serve, slice and volley so I knew that it was going to be tough because of his serve.

“The first set I was really nervous. I had a couple of chances, he had a couple but in the end I make it. After the first set I started to feel a little bit better and I think he was a bit more down because he had tough matches in the first two rounds and he was maybe more tired. I felt more confident and started playing better and better.

"I feel physically great. For the moment I haven’t played really long matches so physically I’m quite fresh and ready for the next match.

“The next round is going to be really tough. Casper [Ruud] is a really great player. We’ve played a couple times and it’s always a tough match with great intensity.

"He’s in great shape and he’s won great matches. I need to prepare physically and mentally, it’s going to be long rallies, high intensity. We’ll see what happens."

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