PARIS (Reuters) – Russian Andrey Rublev reached his second successive Grand Slam quarter-final as he hit back to beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4 7-6(3) at the French Open on Monday.
The world number 12 looked in big trouble when he trailed by a set and 5-2 but rallied to end the run of Fucsovics who had shocked Rublev’s compatriot Daniil Medvedev in round one.
Rublev, 22, will now take on Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the player he beat to win the Hamburg claycourt title the day the French Open began.
Both recovered from two sets down to win their opening matches here.
“It’s funny. Both of us had tough, tough week in Hamburg, tough final. Then both of us was down in the first round two sets to love here,” Rublev told reporters.
“Now we are here and we’re going to play each other in quarters. It’s like a nice story. I hope it’s going to be interesting.”
The experienced Fucsovics was trying to become the first Hungarian man to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final for 39 years and will rue a missed opportunity.
As well as building a commanding early lead he also had three set points when Rublev served at 4-5 0-40 in the fourth set but hit two backhand errors.
Rublev then dominated the tiebreak with aggressive tactics.
Rublev has already shown his battling qualities this year at Roland Garros, coming back from two sets down in the first round against American Sam Querrey.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)
