Bad reception: how Medvedev and Rublev started in Dubai

The Dubai tournament began with a series of unexpected results. Marin Cilic knocked out second seed Alex de Minaur in three sets, Christopher O'Connell hung up the steering wheel to Grigor Dimitrov in the first set, and the Bulgarian decided not to go out in the second due to injury. Hugo Umber lost his match with the "steering wheel" and the recent winner of Carlos Alcaraz Jiri Legechka. Unfortunately, Andrei Rublev did not overcome the first round either. The Doha champion lost in a hard-fought battle to Kenten Alice, who for the first time in his career got the better of a top-10 player. But Daniil Medvedev pleased his fans by shutting down the unyielding Jan-Lennard Struff in two sets. Next, the first racket of Russia will play with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricar, and it will certainly be a serious test.

Six missed break points

Rublev played his opening match in Dubai with half-empty stands. Nevertheless, the audience was very supportive of our tennis player. There were often cheers of support in Russian from the stands. Unfortunately, it didn't help Andrey. Kenten Alice got into very good shape for the first round match, confidently passing Yasutaka Uchiyama and Pavel Kotov in qualifying.

With a top opponent, Kenten continued to show great confidence, making 18 straight serves (the opponent had only five aces). In many ways, his excellent first serve allowed him to soak up the score against players from the top 10, to whom he had previously lost 10 out of 10 matches (the biggest victory was over de Minaur, when he was 18th in the ranking). Although it all started well for Rublev. In the second game, he failed to make two break points, and in the third he heroically fought back from 0:40. After that, Andrey believed in himself and immediately made a break, which became the key in the set.

But it didn't work out to build on the success. The opponents confidently took their serves, but with the score 5:4, Andrei got nervous and allowed his opponent to get a set ball at the reception. Alice immediately took advantage of this opportunity. Rublev made an unforced error, and the fate of the match was decided in the third game. It became alarming for the Russian when Kenten took his serve to zero twice — in the seventh (4:3) and ninth games (5:4). A much more serious struggle ensued on Rublev's serves, but at the end of the game the class of the third seed still affected.

With the score 5:5, Andrey turned on the maximum and earned three break points. However, due to the serve, the Frenchman already left from 0:40, and then he also won back three more break points on the "even". So Alice secured a tie-break, which turned out to be almost perfect for him. Kenten immediately scored a mini-break, and he served the first ball very confidently. Sometimes Rublev simply had no chance to take such a powerful serve. Yes, at 6-3, the Frenchman got a little nervous, but still took revenge on Andrey for the defeat in Shanghai 2023.

Next, the 77th racket of the world will play with Roberto Bautista Agut, while Andrei goes to Indian Wells, where he will have enough time to prepare for the Masters.

The first racket of Russia

Medvedev said before the match with Struff that he was gradually recovering from food poisoning in Qatar.

"Before the quarterfinals with Felix [Auger-Alassim], we warmed up with a fitness coach. I would throw some four balls to him and just sit on a chair, I couldn't catch my breath, there was some kind of tin. And after the match with Felix, I was lying down, it seemed to me that I had a fever, that I needed to go to the hospital, but the next day I felt a little better. And it seems like he's letting it go now, so I hope I'll be 100% ready," Daniel said in an interview with BB Tennis.

However, the first set showed that the Russian first racket is not in optimal shape yet. Yes, Daniil managed to make a quick break (2-1), but then he defended this advantage with great difficulty. Medvedev had to win back four break points, including two, serving for the game. In the second set, Daniil again got a chance to quickly lead the score, but in the fifth game, Struff was able to escape, losing 15:40. But then the German was simply inimitable on his serve. For example, at 4-4, he made three aces in a row. It was a worrying sign, but Medvedev, unlike Rublev, still coped with a much lower-rated opponent.

The 12th game was decisive. Daniel made a couple of amazing winners, including getting an almost unstoppable Struff shot. Apparently, this demoralized the German. A series of his unforced errors led to a score of 5-0 in favor of Medvedev in just a few minutes. However, Daniel wouldn't be himself if he didn't make his fans nervous. With the score 6:1, he easily lost three draws in a row, and then, with great difficulty, he still realized the matchball.

Next, Daniel will play with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricar. The Frenchman has one of the most powerful serves on the tour and can be very dangerous on such a fast surface. Last year, the 21-year-old tennis player won the ATP's Progress of the Year award, winning two ATP titles and rising from 205th place to 30th. In the first round in the UAE, Moshi Perricar beat Zhang Zhizhen.

Medvedev will be accompanied in the second round by Karen Khachanov, who beat Daniel Evans for the first time in his career the day before. Next, Karen will play with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Roman Safiullin could also overcome the first round. He won the first game against the 47th racket of the world Tallon Grixpor, and in the second set he led 5-4 and 40:0. However, the representative of the Netherlands played three matchballs at the reception, and then won the decisive tie-break.