Sir Andy Murray expects dust-up with former Soviet boxer’s son as he bids to progress at Australian Open
While his opponent is something of an unknown quantity, Britain’s Sir Andy Murray is convinced that Russian teenager Andrey Rublev will come out swinging in a bid to derail his Australian Open campaign.
Murray will cross swords with world No152 Rublev, who is the son of a former Soviet boxer, for a place in the third round on Wednesday, in a clash which is set to get underway at around 10am.
“I’ve never hit with him or played against him, but I’ve seen him play and he goes for it,” said Murray, who defeated Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko in round one on Monday.
“I know a little bit about him and he doesn’t hold back. He hits a big ball.”
Rublev is competing at only his second grand slam, and while Murray has reached the final in Melbourne five times in the last seven years, the 19-year-old is not planning on giving the two-time Olympic champion an easy ride.
“I’m so excited, I have nothing to lose,” said Rublev, who was knocked out of the 2015 US Open in the first round. “He’s the best tennis player at the moment, so I will just try to take a great experience from this.”
Fellow Briton Dan Evans, who is ranked No51 in the world is also in action on Wednesday and will go head-to-head with 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic, who is seeded seventh in
Melbourne.