You could see the lightning on the Centre Court, and you could definitely hear the thunder, while the rain stayed outside thanks to the roof at the OWL Arena. That meant the tennis professionals could concentrate on their job while the storm was raging outside over Halle and they presented a hard fight to the fans, with Andrey Rublev winning in the end. He is now through to the quarter finals for the third time at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. The 25 year-old defeated ghe German Yannick Hanfmann 7:6(6); 6:3. Rublev had already reached the round of the last eight in 2017 (and lost to Karen Khachanov) and in 2021 he even stormed into the finals, to then lose to Ugo Humbert.
Rublev, the no. 7 in the world of tennis and no. three-seeded at the 30. TERRA WORTMANN OPEN took Hanfmann’s service in the first game – to love. That boosted his confidence and he went into the lead 4:2. But Hanfmann, who had defeated local hero Louis Wessels in round one, never gave up and fought back into the set. The 31 year-old got the re-break 4:4, went into the lead 5:4 and 6:5. Rublev got the tiebreak, though, which turned out to be a mixed bag of emotions.
Rublev led 3:1; fell back all of a sudden at 3:5, to then again go into the lead 6:5. Hanfmann was able to fender off the first set point, but at 7:6 in favour of Rublev the time had come; the favourite won the tiebreak 8:6 and thus the first set. Hanfmann’s fight was not rewarded.
Hanfmann seemed deflated at the beginning of the second set. He was broken twice and quickly fell behind 0:4. But he hadn’t lost his courage. The current no. 53 of the world got a break and changed the score to 2:4, but Rublev wasn’t going to lose this match. He ended the match with a second set point 6:3. His place in the quarter finals is booked, on Friday definitely with better conditions – without thunder and lightning.
Hanfmann meanwhile mustn’t fret. He can be proud of his performance in Halle and the season so far. The 31 year-old will be in the top 50 for the first time from Monday onwards.
