Despite cruising into the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals on Thursday, Andrey Rublev was left frustrated with certain elements of his victory.
Rublev beat compatriot Karen Khachanov in straight sets in the round of 16 match. However, the first set was decided by a tie break as the slippery court played havoc with both players' rhythm.
Speaking after the win, Rublev felt the wet conditions and his familiarity with good friend Khachanov made the match tougher than expected.
"That we know each other too well. I mean, I think the first set was only mental. We didn't really show some tennis skills. I don't know. That was my thing. But also it was tough to show some skills because the win was really hard and the court is slippery and it was really, really tough to do something."
After winning a challenging first set, Rublev felt he gathered more momentum in his game, which led to the eventual dominant victory.
"The first one was super mental, at least for me. And then the feeling was that after I won the first set, I was a bit lucky that I was able to win. So it give me a bit advantage. And then as soon as I was able to win a set, the second set, I started to feel more free, and I felt that Karen started to feel more, a bit more down and that was the difference."
The Russian player's success on the court was not without its psychological difficulties. Not one to hide his emotions, Rublev revealed that he was close to a meltdown at the end of the first set, but he managed to keep his composure.
"I wanted to destroy everything around me. And then, in the end after the set when I was my sort of, I, I shoot a few times the racquet. But at that time, I felt like maybe I needed, I needed something to wake up and that was, and then I started to play a bit better. "
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