Upset Alert: Rublev Eliminated In His First Match In Toronto By McDonald

| by Evita Mueller

Andrey Rublev continued his struggle at the Canadian Open as he was beaten by Mackenzie McDonald in the second round.

The Russian had a first-round bye which meant that the second-round matchup against Mackenzie McDonald was the first match he played. It wasn't a very good one for the Russian as he lost it pretty easily in two sets which is now the second time in a row he lost early at the ATP 1000 event in Canada.

Wimbledon was a fun experience for him as he played really well, even took a set off from Djokovic but ultimately was beaten by the Serbian. He then made his way to Bastad, where he put together a great week to lift the trophy by beating Casper Ruud in the final.

Hamburg wasn't very good as he lost early there and now he's exiting yet another event after getting beaten fairly early. This one was very atypical for him. He struggled tremendously with his serve hitting his first one only 40 % of the time and that's a huge problem.

2023 Canadian Open Montreal & Toronto ATP & WTA Prize Money & Points Overview
2023 Canadian Open Montreal & Toronto ATP & WTA Prize Money & Points Overview

It's a court that helps you if you serve well and not being able to hit his serve hurt him a lot because it gave McDonald plenty of chances on the second serve. Rublev was pretty solid in rallies with 18 winners and only 9 unforced errors so it's not a case of him hitting himself out of a match.

It was mostly a case of not having a lot of free points on serve which gave McDonald seven break points. The American used three of them, and it proved enough. He did well enough on his own serve but mostly played really sharp rallies.

He totaled 21 winners and only 5 unforced errors and that was going to beat plenty of players, and it was enough to beat the Russian 6-4, 6-3. Rublev moves on to Cincinnati.

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