(Reuters) – Russian teenager Andrey Rublev recovered from a set and a break down to storm past former winner Tomas Berdych and into the China Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
Rublev, who beat the big-serving Czech 1-6 6-4 6-1, looked well out of his depth in surrendering the first set. But the match turned on its head midway through the second set, and the Russian won 11 of the last 13 games to dispatch the world number 20 in an hour and 48 minutes.
The 19-year-old, ranked 39, showed during the summer he has the potential to climb far higher, getting the better of world number nine Grigor Dimitrov and number 14 David Goffin at the U.S. Open.
Meanwhile world number one Rafa Nadal, who ended Rublev Flushing Meadows run in the quarter-finals, on Thursday pulled off a routine 6-3 6-3 victory over another young Russian, 21-year-old Karen Khachanov.
“I think I played a solid match,” said Nadal, who looked more like his usual self after surviving a scare in the first round against Lucas Pouille, when the Frenchman held two match points. Nadal next plays American John Isner who beat Leonardo Mayer 6-0, 6-3.
“Tomorrow will be a tough one against Isner; he’s playing unbelievably well. I saw his match today. He played huge,” the Spaniard said.
