Andrey Rublev vs Ricardas Berankis: Rublev Won't Give Up Even a Set

Andrey got off to a flying start at the Australian Open. His second opponent at the Majors will be Latvian player and Rublev's old acquaintance Berankis. The bookmakers made Andrei the odds-on favourite. To be honest, there is little doubt that Rublev will finish his second match at the tournament in three sets.

Andrei could not participate in the ATP Cup tournament. That is very likely why the Russian team dropped out of the semifinals. With all due respect to Safiullin, Rublev is more robust, no matter how you look at it. Rublev did not play a single official match before the Australian Open in 2022 but was seen in mid-December 2021 at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, where he beat Shapovalov and Murray. Andrei's first opponent at the AO was Italian Mager #65 in the world. The match lasted only an hour and a half. Mager took only seven games in the whole game.

Berankis had a tournament in Melbourne before AO. The Latvian has already managed to put down roots in this city. Ricardas reached the last 16, passing the qualification, but at this stage, the Latvian representative faced Rafa Nadal and entirely dropped out of the draw. The match against the fifth-ranked player lasted an hour and a half. The Spaniard lost 5-7 in the second set. The first game was very short-lived. Richards took only two games against Rafa.

Rublev and Berankis met twice on tour, in 2014 in Astana and 2019 in St. Petersburg. Berankis won the first match, Rublev won the second. However, it is worth noting that since 2019, Andrei has improved decently, climbing into the top 10 of the ATP, and is now ranked #6. Ricardas, on the other hand, has been around the top 100 ever since. We believe Rublev, who missed tennis, will get his second win at the Australian majors.