Dubai Tennis C’ships: Rublev defeats Evans, Sinner survives opener scare, Karatsev suffers shock defeat

Dubai [UAE], February 23 (ANI): Andrey Rublev made a winning start to his bid for a second title in two weeks as he defeated Daniel Evans 6-4 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The number two seed arrived in Dubai in the early hours of Tuesday morning after winning both the singles and doubles titles in Marseille, the first time in his career that he has claimed both titles in the same week. But he showed no sign of fatigue during a high-quality performance in which he was challenged admirably by Evans.
Rublev needed two attempts to take the opening set, breaking to lead 5-3, allowing Evans to break back but then breaking serve again at 5-4. In the second set, Evans broke to lead 2-1 but immediately dropped his own serve at love.
Evans then came under immense pressure as the set moved to its climax, with Rublev holding four match points on Evans’ serve at 5-4 before closing out the match with his seventh match point at 6-5.
Aslan Karatsev’s defence of his title ended in frustration when he was defeated 7-5 6-3 by Mackenzie McDonald. His opponent in the 2021 final, Lloyd Harris, was also beaten as he went down 6-3 6-3 to Alex Molcan in just 65 minutes.
Jannik Sinner came close to following Karatsev to the exit as he faced down three match points before emerging with a 4-6 7-6 6-3 over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a draining two hours 31 minutes.
Davidovich Fokina, who broke in the final game of the first set and then held a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreak before Sinner edged it 8-6. Then just one break of serve separated them in the final set. (ANI)