By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rainy weather could not dampen Russian Andrey Rublev’s sublime form as he rolled past Briton Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Monday to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the third time.
The ninth seed sent over 11 aces and had fewer than half the unforced errors his opponent did in a brisk affair that was surely a reprieve after Rublev endured two five-set battles in the earlier rounds.
With 24-year-old Rublev up a break in the second set, rain forced a considerable delay as Louis Armstrong Stadium’s retractable roof slowly slid into place and workers mopped up the court before the eighth game.
Roland-Garros quarter-finalist Rublev was unfazed, dropping only two of his first serve points in the third set and getting the critical break over the seventh seed in the ninth game with an exquisitely placed backhand winner.
On the hunt for a maiden major title, Rublev’s recent hard court performances painted an inconsistent picture, as he crashed out of his Montreal opener to Briton Dan Evans and lost in the third round at Cincinnati.
But he appeared to be fully in command of his game on New York’s famed blue courts on Monday, with either American Frances Tiafoe or Spanish second seed Rafa Nadal waiting in the next round.
“I played a good match,” Rublev said in an on-court interview. “This is the U.S. Open, this is a Grand Slam, everyone is nervous, everyone is tight.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
