World number 7 Andrey Rublev beat Ugo Humbert 7-5 6-3 to advance to the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas in Indian Wells.
Rublev converted four of his six break points to avenge a defeat against Humbert in the final of the Halle ATP 500 tournament in 2021.
Humbert earned an early break in the second game to open up a 4-1 lead. Rublev broke back in the seventh game to draw level to 4-4. The Russian player broke for the second time in the 11th game to close out the out the first set 7-5.
Rublev broke twice in the first and ninth games to win the second set 6-3.
“He started very well. He broke me and I was thinking: ‘I don’t know, probably today is not my day.’ I was not feeling the ball really well in there beginning because the first match I played at night and the conditions were completely different today. But then I started to say: ‘Okay, it’s not my day. He is better and that’s it. Somehow I made a few returns. I broke him back and I started to serve better and in the end, little by little, I was able to finish on a good level”, said Rublev.
Rublev set up a Round of 16 match against Cameron Norrie, who came back from set and a break down to beat Taro Daniel 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-2. Rublev leads 2-1 in his previous three head-to-head matches against Norrie. The British player beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro.
