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The tennis world was left awestruck by Andrey Rublev’s incredible winner during the final moments of his Wimbledon match against Alexander Bublik.
On Sunday, July 9, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik took to the Centre Court for their fourth-round clash at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. This was the pair’s second clash within a month; Rublev and Bublik’s previous meeting came in the final of the grasscourt ATP 500 in Halle a few weeks back, where the latter claimed victory to lift his maiden ATP 500 trophy.
Andrey Rublev exacted revenge at the grasscourt Slam and emerged victorious in a grueling three hour and 17 minute long five-setter 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-4. Bublik denied Rublev two match points in the fourth set, but the Kazakh was unable to carry his momentum into the decider.
As Andrey Rublev served for a place in the quarterfinals in the final set, a resilient Alexander Bublik gave him a run for his money. The pair produced a rally for the ages at 30-15 in the final game.
The exchange saw Bublik seemingly hit a down-the-line backhand winner, but it was met with a stunning response from Rublev, who dove to chase the ball and hit an astonishing winner in the process. Bublik was left speechless as the 25-year-old’s winner earned him a match point.
Rublev closed out the encounter with an ace on his next serve.
The tennis world, including Bianca Andreescu and Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs, were left stunned by the Russian's shot, and many shared their reactions immediately.
“CRAZIEST SHOT BY RUBLEV OMG,” Bianca Andreescu remarked.
“Unreal!” Rennae Stubbs exclaimed.
Here are a few more reactions from social media:
Andrey Rublev is through to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships
Andrey Rublev is making the most of his participation at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships after being banned in 2022 due to his nationality. The Russian, whose previous best result at the grasscourt event was the fourth round in 2021, is through to his first-ever quarterfinal at SW19 and his eighth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall.
Rublev has also become just the 10th active player to feature in the quarterfinals of all four Majors. However, the reigning Monte-Carlo Masters champion has failed to make it past the final eight stage in all of his previous seven attempts.
Rublev will hope for a different outcome this time around at Wimbledon as he bids for a maiden Slam semifinal appearance. He will face the winner of Novak Djokovic vs Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
