WHAT HAPPENED: Andrey Rublev spent the better part of the first two sets of his Round 4 match with Jack Draper trying not to poke the bear. The No. 8 seed was in control—almost waltzing it seemed—to what would have been a set and a break lead.
Then the left-handed Brit with the menacing serve came out of hibernation and joined the scuffle. The 123rd-ranked Draper, contesting his first fourth-round match at a Grand Slam, improbably saved all six break points he faced in the second set and reeled off four of the final five games to draw level at a set apiece.
A frustrating scenario indeed for Rublev, who at one point drew the ire of the crowd when he whacked a ball in anger across the court between points. The perennial Top-10 talent must’ve been wondering how he had managed to drop a set in which he had won all but four points on serve—all in a single regrettable game that ended with Draper breaking serve for 4-2.
Out of sorts for a spell, Rublev’s woes continued temporarily as he dropped his first service game of the third set—then the run play suddenly shifted.
Now Rublev was the bear that had been poked, and the rest of Sunday’s tilt under the closed roof on Louis Armstrong Stadium would be played accordingly.
Tired of tiptoeing around his adversary, Rublev raced head-on into the challenge from there and outmuscled the 6-foot-4 21-year-old, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, to book a quarterfinal date with either third-seeded Daniil Medvedev or No. 13 seed Alex de Minaur or Australia.
After the victory, Rublev said that his physicality made the difference.
“I thought to myself, even if I start to lose, let’s try to make the match as long as possible, maybe physically I’ll be more fit because Jack is just coming back from injury,” he said. “In the end, you could see that Jack was tired and he was not playing the same way—I was able to add extra speed to finish the match.”
It was a show of resilience from the 25-year-old—and also maturity. As Draper wilted in the muggy New York humidity, Rublev kept rumbling like an LIRR train headed for Penn Station.
Draper has a lot to be proud of despite the loss. He missed three months due to a shoulder injury this summer and only recently returned to the tour in August. Over the course of Sunday’s two-hour-and-45-minute contest, he demonstrated the lethal serve and first-strike capacities that could make him a top tier talent in the future.
WHAT IT MEANS: Rublev reaches his fourth US Open quarterfinal, and his ninth at the Grand Slams, as he improves to 21-7 lifetime at Flushing Meadows.
The world No. 8’s Achilles’ heel at the majors has always been the quarterfinal stage. Rublev has fallen in all of his trips to the last eight at the Grand Slams and gone down in straight sets in each of his three US Open quarterfinals.
Andrey Rublev, US Open quarterfinals:
- 2017, Rafael Nadal defeated Rublev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
- 2018, Medvedev defeated Rublev, 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-6(5)
- 2022, Frances Tiafoe defeated Rublev, 7-6(3), 7-6(0), 6-4
MATCH POINT: Rublev will have an uphill battle no matter who he faces in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at the Open. He is 2-5 lifetime versus Medvedev and 1-3 lifetime versus De Minaur.
