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Mackenzie McDonald beat sixth seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Canadian Open on Wednesday, August 9. It was an upset win for the 28-year-old American, who got through pretty easily.
Rune, meanwhile, had to suffer yet another shock defeat after his early exit from the Hamburg European Open last month.
McDonald will face Milos Raonic of Canada in the third round on Thursday. Raonic is the home favorite, but is making a comeback after a long lay-off and might find it difficult to get past the American.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match.
#1 Mackenzie McDonald dictated terms with his forehand
McDonald was quite assertive with his forehand and dictated terms for the most part with that powerful shot of his. He hit the ball quite flat and pushed Rublev further back from the baseline with his forehand repeatedly.
McDonald got the decisive break of serve in the first set and never lost it to win the set comfortably. The reversal in the first set put Rublev under pressure and he was always going to find it difficult to make a comeback.
#2. Andrey Rublev was not able to hit the angles often enough
Rublev dominated most of the rallies in which he was able to hit the angles well. His crosscourt forehand, especially, put Mackenzie McDonald under a lot of pressure. However, the Russian was not able to do it often enough. Moreover, McDonald defended superbly on his backhand side to frustrate the Russian at times.
McDonald kept hitting his groundstrokes flat but also hit quite a few of his backhands into the net. Still, he broke Rublev in the third game of the set and then held his serve to take a 3-1 lead. He had to save a couple of break points in the fourth game to hold his serve.
The American then broke Andrey Rublev once again in the ninth game to seal the match. The match was thus over within a couple of hours. McDonald won 76 per cent of the points on his first serve, which was a bit more than Rublev’s 70 percent.
The American also had seven break-point opportunities in the match, of which he managed to convert only three. It was a solid display from him and he looks good to reach the quarterfinal. Raonic is a big server, but should be considerably rusty and Mackenzie McDonald' should take advantage of that.
