SAN DIEGO Tennis • Battle of The Brits • Norrie Plays Evans • Andy Murray Plays Rudd • Draws, Results, Schedule

Rublev Dispatches Nakashima to Advance to Quarterfinals    By: Thomas Cluck It was a much anticipated debut for San Diego Open top seed Andrey Rublev, the fifth-ranked player in the world, on Wednesday, and ultimately a quick one at the Barnes Tennis Center, as the Russian, fresh off helping Team Europe to the Laver Cup last weekend, routed local favorite Brandon Nakashima, a talented 20 year-old American, 6-2, 6-1. “I think I played really well especially for my first match especially because I didn’t have much time to get used to the conditions because I arrived Monday late night and I had only one day to practice outdoors here in San Diego,” assessed Rublev. Rublev only had a single day to practice here ahead of his first match and he won’t have gotten a lot more time on court tonight either, racing past his over-matched opponent in just 62 minutes. “So the first match I played really well and we’ll see what’s gonna happen because the tournament is not about just one match, it’s about five matches,” the Russian added. Rublev will face another dangerous opponent in the quarterfinals- one of his Team World Laver Cup foes- in the form of sixth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman, another challenging match as he looks to get more practice in and tune up for next week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. “First of all, I always wanted to visit San Diego. And I think it’s really great preparation before Indian Wells, almost the same conditions, so this is exactly what you want before the big event,” concluded Rublev. Wednesday was a perfect 4-0 day for the seeds as Schwartzman held off South Africa’s Lloyd Harris 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, while fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, coming off his win last week in Metz, defeated Alex Bolt 7-6, 6-1. British eighth seed Dan Evans survived the big serve of another South African, former Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson to move on 7-6, 7-5.

Day four sees a loaded order of play for Southern California fans as three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray’s bout with second seed Casper Ruud headlines the night session with a tantalizing duel between Grigor Dimitrov and three seed Felix Auger-Alliasime to follow.

The day session on Barnes Stadium sees an all-British affair between Evans and Cameron Norrie before fourth seed Denis Shapovalov makes his tournament debut against San Diego native Taylor Fritz.

2021 SAN DIEGO OPEN ATP 250 WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS Men’s Singles Second Round [1] A. Rublev (RUS) d [WC] B. Nakashima (USA) 62 61 [6] D. Schwartzman (ARG) d L. Harris (RSA) 46 63 62 First Round [5] H. Hurkacz (POL) d [Q] A. Bolt (AUS) 76(2) 61 [8] D. Evans (GBR) d [LL] K. Anderson (RSA) 76(11) 75 Men’s Doubles First Round M. Arevalo (ESA) / F. Delbonis (ARG) d [2] J. Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA) 63 63 [3] J. Peers (AUS) / F. Polasek (SVK) d H. Hurkacz (POL) / M. Melo (BRA) 76(12) 46 13-11 J. Thompson (AUS) / J. Withrow (USA) d [WC] A. Sancic (CRO) / A. Sitak (NZL) 63 64 T. Fritz (USA) / T. Paul (USA) d M. Daniell (NZL) / M. Venus (NZL) 64 63 ORDER OF PLAY — THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 BARNES STADIUM start 11:30 am C. Norrie (GBR) vs [8] D. Evans (GBR) [4] D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs T. Fritz (USA) Not Before 5:30 pm [WC] A. Murray (GBR) vs [2] C. Ruud (NOR) G. Dimitrov (BUL) vs [3] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) STADIUM 2 start 11:30 am [1] J. Salisbury (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) vs [WC] B. Nakashima (USA) / S. Verbeek (NED) [5] H. Hurkacz (POL) vs A. Karatsev (RUS) [9] L. Sonego (ITA) vs S. Korda (USA) [4] S. Bolelli (ITA) / M. Gonzalez (ARG) vs J. Thompson (AUS) / J. Withrow (USA)