Rublev's game of aces assists rain-delay turnaround in Washington

Top seed Andrey Rublev raised his level after a two-and-a-half hour rain delay Wednesday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, rallying past #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Round of 16.

”I was playing much better after I came back from the rain. Before the rain, I could not put more than two balls [in]. I was missing all over the place,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “I was even laughing inside of myself because it was something unreal. I never remember myself missing that much. Literally I could not put two balls inside the court. I was a bit shocked.

"Somehow, because of this pause because of the rain, I was able to calm down, to think a bit. ‘Okay, let’s try maybe different thinking.’ And in the end, it worked."

The World No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings committed 18 unforced errors in the opening set and trailed 4-6, 3-2 when play was interrupted due to rain. Rublev quickly rebounded following the suspension, breaking Van Assche in his second service game after the resumption and rocketing four aces in a row to send the match into a decider.

A two-time Washington semi-finalist, Rublev dug out of a 0/40 hole at 4-3 in the final set, tallying five consecutive points. He closed the match after one hour, 42 minutes.

Rublev next faces 16th seed Arthur Rinderknech. The 16-time tour-level titlist won their lone Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting in four sets at last year’s US Open. Rinderknech advanced Wednesday following Shang Juncheng's retirement due to lower back pain after five games.

#NextGenATP Alex Michelsen began his Washington campaign with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win against Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci. Following his win, the 19-year-old Michelsen is up one place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, only behind Frenchman Arthur Fils, who has more than double the American's points.

Up next for Michelsen is South Korean Seongchan Hong, who upset third seed Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-4 for just his fifth tour-level win.

Seventh seed Jordan Thompson, a finalist last week in Atlanta, defeated Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-3. Thompson neutralised the 6’11” American’s serve, winning 75 per cent of his second-serve return points and converting four of his seven break chances.

The Australian next meets another hefty server in ninth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The Frenchman crushed 25 aces en route to a 7-6(6), 7-6(6) victory against Emil Ruusuvuori. Eighth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina ousted Mitchell Krueger 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.