MELBOURNE, Australia — Andrey Rublev beat wild-card entry Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday to book his place in the second round of the Australian Open.
Thiem, a runner-up at the Australian Open in 2020 and the US Open winner the same year, missed much of 2021 due to injuries but has recovered from outside the top 350 last year to a place just inside the top 100. He was given a wild-card entry by tournament organizers.
“When you see you have to play against Dominic, you know it’s not going to be easy. I know he’s going through some not easy times so I wish him all the best to come back to the level he can be as fast as possible,” Rublev said.
Rublev will now play either Australian qualifier Max Purcell or Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland.
This article was originally published by Espn.com. Read the original article here.