The No. 6 seed’s defeat opens the door for Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov to make their move for Turin.
In recent weeks Andrey Rublev had fallen into the trap of regularly checking match results to see how they impacted the race to the Nitto ATP Finals.
I’ve been constantly analyzing what could happen, watching who my opponents play against and things like that. It’s stressful, but it’s part of the sport he told Ziggo Sport ahead of the Rolex Paris Masters.
On Tuesday, Rublevs bid to secure his place at the prestigious year-end event for a fifth straight season was put in jeopardy as he’ll now be left to watching how his fate plays out. Francisco Cerundulo ousted the No. 6 seed, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the second round
In a rollercoaster opening set, Rublev saw his 5-2 lead go to waste when he failed to serve it out in the ninth game. Cerundolo caught fire to put the set on his racquet, only to drop serve when Rublev converted his fifth break chance of a 14-point game.
After losing the tiebreak, Rublev once again was unable to build off generating an early break. Down 2-4, the Argentine dug in, later saving three break points in another marathon game to reach 6-5.
To no surprise, neither player grabbed hold of the ensuing tiebreak. The returner won the first four points, and while the Russian recovered to erase a 2-4 deficit, was unable to stave off the first match point he faced. Cerundolo, in turn, clinched his fourth Top 10 win of the season and second over Rublev (Umag).
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