Rublev Beats De Minaur In Five-Set Thriller To Set Up Sinner Clash At Australian Open

This was a pretty special match for a good part of it, but it ended kind of weirdly with de Minaur completely falling apart.

Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur are a fascinating matchup on paper because the Australian is the right profile to counter Rublev really well. He's very quick around the court and never gives up, which can give Rublev issues due to his explosive nature.

It did happen quite a few times in this match as De Minaur looked really sharp. He's been looking really sharp for a while now with some good wins. Still, Rublev landed the first punch taking the opening est 6-4. He was stronger from the baseline which is where most of the battles happened.

The second set was a close one as we ultimately ended up in a tiebreak, which was a spectacular affair. de Minaur was amazing, creating a few big highlights to ultimately win the second set. The same thing happened in the 3rd set, though this time around, de Minaur held an earlier break that he lost. Eventually, he still won it in the tiebreak, coming pretty close to a solid upset.

Rublev would counter quickly in the 4th set, taking an early lead and winning the 6-3 sets. It was the shortest set until then as the Russian upped his aggression. That ultimately won him the match, the recognition to start 'going for it' as de Minaur kept fading away.

The Australian never quite found a way to counter Rublev effectively in the final two sets, but he lacked 'oomph' as well. The final set demonstrated that very well, as he was quite timid while Rublev kept dialing up the pressure, which ultimately proved key.

The final score was 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-0 for Rublev.