Andrey Rublev cruises past Wawrinka in Madrid

Andrey Rublev got off to a winning start at the Madrid Open taking down veteran Stan Wawrinka in two sets 7-5 6-4 in his first match at the event.

Rublev last stood on a tennis court when he contested the Banja Luka final against Lajovic with the latter winning the match. This was a good comeback to winning ways against a player who still has something to say on a tennis court. Wawrinka certainly proved a tough nut to crack in the first set holding his own until 5-5.

He was actually the player who had the first break points in the match but Rublev held. Much later in the set, the Russian broke Wawrinka finally to win the opening set 7-5. The second set was much more impressive from Rublev as he felt a bit more confident in his play overall smashing Wawrinka in the first seven games to take a 5-2 lead.

A lapse in focus allowed the Swiss to pull back one break and make it 5-4 but Rublev remained calm and finished it off 6-4. Just a great match from both players as they both had over 20 winners and less than 10 unforced errors. Rublev moves on to the next round with a great performance.