At the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday, Andrey Rublev secured his 250th victory at the tour-level competition after prevailing after a tense 2nd round. At the event played on clay courts, the fifth seed overcame a set deficit to win the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 against the Spaniard Jaume Munar.
Rublev, who had previously competed in the final inside the Kingdom in 2021, prevailed over Munar by breaking his serve six times and hitting 36 winners to move to the next round after 2 hours and Twelve minutes of play. After suffering a loss in the first set, they came back and played really well.
The thought that went through my head was, “No way, I could be eliminated during the initial phase of Monaco.” During the court interview that took place, Rublev stated, “Then, I don’t know, I began to realize that I had to modify anything, I had to become more aggressive.”
I can’t just shove the ball forward because, in the conclusion, he was running considerably better than I was, and in the end, he was waiting for the proper moment, and in the end, he altered the direction much more easily because I wasn’t exerting pressure on him.
The 25-year-old currently holds a 2-1 advantage over the World No. 83 Spaniard in the ATP Head2Head competition. The 25-year-old will next take on either Ilya Ivashka, Daniel Evans, or Karen Khachanov, a qualifier.
Earlier, Khachanov showed no signs of slowing down as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who had reached the final of the 2022 Monte-Carlo tournament.
 After reaching the semifinals in Miami a few weeks ago, the eleventh-ranked player in the world has gone on to win five of his last six matches.
Alexander Zverev defeated Alexander Bublik in three sets, winning 3-6, 6-2, and 6-4 to get off to a successful start in the clay-court campaign.
The German was trying to compete on the ground for the very first time after having to retire from his match against Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the 2022 Roland Garros tournament because of an injury to his ankle.
Despite getting off to a slow start, he was able to overcome Bublik in almost two hours.
As the initial round match progressed on Court Rainier III, the player seeded 13th moved the court better. He glided into shots to score 21 winners, but he produced nine mental mistakes to earn the 9th win of the season. He is currently in first place in the league.
To tell you the truth, there were times when it felt bad, but he gave me a feeling awful, Zverev remarked. He employed sound strategy, but he did not give me any opportunity to play my game.
He prevented me from getting into my groove, and he came very close to winning the match, falling short by just a few strokes here and there.
I have now put in a total of two weeks of practice. For me, this is the most comfortable surface to sit on. My adjustment time on a clay court is typically between five and ten minutes, but this year things were a little bit different.
It was imperative that I distract myself from the injury. I had to familiarise myself with sliding once more.
Zverev will next take on Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. In the ATP Head2Head game against Bublik, Zverev now holds a record of 1-2.
The German player, who is only 25 years old, has made it all the way to the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Championships twice, in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
On clay courts, Zverev has won six of his 19 championships at the tour level, winning ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Rome in 2017 and Madrid in 2018 and 2022.
