Rublev staves off Borges challenge to reach French Open last 16

PARIS, May 29 : Russian Andrey Rublev battled into the French Open last 16 for the second straight year as the 11th seed sealed a 7-5 7-6(2) 7-6(2) win over Portugal's Nuno Borges on a warm Friday morning.

• Rublev is among several players looking for their maiden Grand Slam title after the men's draw was blown wide open following top seed Jannik Sinner's loss on Thursday.

• The twice Paris quarter-finalist, who has never gone past that stage at any of the four Grand Slams, ran into stiff resistance in the opening two sets against Borges.

• The unseeded Portuguese did not drop his intensity despite trailing and forced a another tiebreak in the third set as fans on Court Suzanne Lenglen sensed a late comeback.

• But Rublev staved off the challenge, losing only two points in the tiebreak again to progress and extend his head-to-head win-loss record against Borges to 5-0.

• The Russian takes on either eighth-seed Australian Alex de Minaur or Czech 26th seed Jakub Mensik next.