Rome Masters: Madrid champ Rublev wins cliffhanger over Giron to become last player to reach third round

Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 4 seed, moved into the third round of the Rome Masters by edging out American Marcos Giron 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 at the Foro Italico in Roma on Saturday evening.

The Madrid Masters winner had to deliver a great battle to qualify. Giron came from a break down in the final set and then broke Rublev again to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third. However, the Russian broke back immediately on his way to winning three games in a row to claim the victory.

“I don’t know. I was super angry with myself that I let a lot of emotions out today…” Rublev said during the post-match interview. “I was thinking : it’s over and I deserve to lose. I was thinking had a lot of chances and I didn’t make them because of my emotions. Somehow I was able to start the game really well. Little by little I was able to recover. I was really lucky.”

“I’m lucky I’m able to play here”, he added after being sick in Madrid last week. “It’s already a good present. We’ll see. Now I’m able to get a second chance after this match to still be in the tournament. We’ll see if I make a good lesson out of it or not.”

This was Rublev’s first match since winning the Madrid Masters on Sunday after which the Russian revealed that he had been sick for a few days heading into the Madrid final. Post the final, Rublev spent two-and-a-half days in the hospital and was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess.

Rublev, ranked No 6, will play qualifier Alexandre Muller next.

Giron, ranked No 49, beat Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (3-6, 6-3, 6-3) in the previous round of the Italian Open.

Rome Masters 1000, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):

• Holger Rune (10) beat Luca Nardi: 6-4, 6-4
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (18) beat Botic van de Zandschulp (Q): 6-1, 7-6 (6)
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4
• Cameron Norrie (27) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
• Sebastian Baez (17) beat Dusan Lajovic: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6)
• Alexandre Muller beat Arthur Fils (31): 7-5, 6-3
• Daniil Medvedev (2) beat Jack Draper: 7-5, 6-4
• Alex De Minaur (9) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-3, 6-2
• Dominik Koepfer beat Frances Tiafoe (22): 6-4, 6-2
• Stefano Napolitano (WC) beat Juncheng Shang (LL): 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-0
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Aslan Karatsev: 6-4, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (7) beat Rafael Nadal: 6-1, 6-3
• Hamad Medjedovic (Q) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (30): 7-6 (4), 6-4
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry (25) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 7-5
• Nicolas Jarry (21) beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-2, 7-6 (6)
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Corentin Moutet (LL): 6-3, 6-1
• Francisco Cerundolo (20) beat Matteo Gigante (WC): 6-1, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Casper Ruud (5): 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Taylor Fritz (11) beat Fabio Fognini (WC): 6-3, 6-4
• Alejandro Tabilo (29) beat Yannick Hanfmann: 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Karen Khachanov (16) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-4
• Francesco Passaro (Q) beat Tallon Griekspoor (23): 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-0, 6-4
• Sebastian Korda (24) beat Flavio Cobolli: 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4
• Thiago Monteiro (Q) beat Jordan Thompson (32): 6-1, 6-3
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Adrian Mannarino (19): 6-1, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (12) beat Pavel Kotov: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Luciano Darderi beat Mariano Navone (28): 6-3, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (8) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-5, 6-4
• Terence Atmane (Q) beat Lorenzo Musetti (26): 7-5, 1-0 ret.
• Nuno Borges beat Alexander Bublik (15): 6-4, 6-4