Emotional discipline helps Andrey Rublev start strong in Dubai
Andrey Rublev was afraid he would suffer an early exit at the Dubai Championships after arriving late at the tournament but the Russian said keeping his emotions in control helped him seal an unexpected victory over Britain's Daniel Evans on Tuesday. Rublev converted his seventh match point to defeat Evans 6-4, 7-5 in the first round in Dubai, two days after he won the singles and doubles titles in Marseille. The 24-year-old said he arrived in Dubai at 2 a.m. on the day of his match against Evans, leaving him with very little confidence. "I was thinking I have no chance," Rublev told reporters. "I'm super happy (with the win) because I didn't expect this." The world number seven said he had a longer-than-usual warmup and vowed to stay focussed throughout the match to give himself a shot at a strong start at the ATP 500 hard-court event.
