At last week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Andrey Rublev defeated Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. It was Rublev’s second victory of the season in the head-to-head series, having previously gotten the best of Fucsovics 7-6(4), 6-4 in the Rotterdam title match.
Interestingly enough, they were also supposed to face each other in the Doha quarterfinals one week prior to Dubai, but Fucsovics withdrew.
Needless to say, the Hungarian is tired of being matched up with Rublev. And he admitted as much following his Dubai loss.
“I hope I don’t play you anymore this year,” Fucsovics quipped as he walked off the court.
The world No. 40 will not get his wish.
As luck would have it in the very next tournament, Rublev and Fucsovics will meet again in the Miami Open third round on Monday. Each player had to win only one match apiece to make it happen. Rublev did so with ease, beating Tennys Sandgren 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday. Fucsovics had a much tougher time with Thanasi Kokkinakis, surviving 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-4 after three hours and 11 minutes.
Rublev leads the overall head-to-head series 3-2, including 3-1 at the ATP level. The eighth-ranked Russian has won three in a row against Fucsovics since taking losses in 2016 (Barcelona qualifying) and 2017 (Davis Cup).
who ya got?