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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Rublev, Shapovalov march into Dubai quarters

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DUBAI: Second seed Andrey Rublev recorded his 15th victory of the season with a 6-3, 6-1 dismissal of American Taylor Fritz in Dubai on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.


The Russian extended his winning streak at 500-level tournaments to 22 victories in a row. Only Roger Federer has pulled off a longer stretch of wins at this level, with the Swiss amassing 28 consecutive victories at ATP 500 events between 2014 and 2016.


The 23-year-old Rublev saved all six break points he faced against Fritz and will next play Hungarian Marton Fucsovics for a second time in three weeks, with a last-four place at stake. “I’m really happy I could win in straight sets, quite confident. I’ve known Taylor since juniors and it’s always tough to play against him because he has a huge serve and he’s playing really fast,” said Rublev, who is through to the last-eight stage for the fourth time in as many events in 2021.


Italian teenager Jannik Sinner overcame 2018 champion Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to reach his third quarter-final of the season.


Making his tournament debut this week, the 19-year-old Sinner fired 16 aces during the two-hour, 24-minute battle to set up an encounter with recent Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev.Sinner squandered a 4-2 lead in the decider and was limited to a 38 per cent success rate behind his second serve, but played some clutch tennis in the dying moments to squeeze past the fourth-seeded Bautista Agut with his 48th winner.


EXPLOSIVE SHAPOVALOV


Earlier on centre court, Canadian third seed Denis Shapovalov advanced to the 21st ATP Tour quarterfinal of his career with a commanding 6-4, 6-3 victory over Polish world number 35 Hubert Hurkacz. Contesting the 200th match of his career, the 21-year-old Shapovalov scored his first win in three meetings with Hurkacz to set up a last-eight showdown with in-form French veteran Jeremy Chardy. — AFP


Dubai ATP Third round results


Lloyd Harris (RSA) bt Filip Krajinovic (SRB x14) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Kei Nishikori (JPN) bt Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-4, 6-4; Denis Shapovalov (CAN x3) bt Hubert Hurkacz (POL x13) 6-4, 6-3; Jeremy Chardy (FRA) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS x8) 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4; Aslan Karatsev (RUS) bt Lorenzo Sonego (ITA x17) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Jannik Sinner (ITA x16) bt Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x4) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB x11) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Andrey Rublev (RUS x2) bt Taylor Fritz (USA x15) 6-3, 6-1


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