TennisSection previews the 2021 Wimbledon Championships as Andrey Rublev (5) meets Fabio Fognini (26) in the Third Round on Friday July 2nd, 2021.
An exciting matchup is expected here in the Third Round of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. Fifth seeded Russian Andrey Rublev faces Fabio Fognini in a match that fans will not want to miss. Rublev is the new star on the block and has impressed with his ultra-aggressive style. Fognini is like an artist with the ball and while grass is not his preferred surface, he is a very entertaining player to watch. Who will get the win and advance to the Round of 16 for the first time here at Wimbledon?
Andrey Rublev is currently ranked #7 in the world rankings and is the fifth seed here at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. There were doubts about his ability to adapt to this surface due to his lack of experience, but he has proved the naysayers wrong with some dominant performances. After surprisingly dropping the first set to Federico Delbonis in the First Round he has hardly set a foot wrong, crushing Lloyd Harris in the Second Round. The South African was expected to challenge Rublev, but he played some dominant tennis, not allowing the South African to play his usual game. With his big serve and penetrating groundstrokes Rublev is proving very difficult to handle, and Fabio Fognini will have his hands full here.
Fabio Fognini is currently ranked #31 in the world and is the 26th seed here at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. The Italian is a former top 10 player, and has a reputation as being one of the most dynamic and talented players on the ATP Tour. However, he has seen his form and ranking slowly slide over the past few years, and while he will be desperate for a deep run here to resuscitate his season, he has never had much success on grass. Surprisingly, he has never advanced past this stage in his entire career, and if he defeats Andrey Rublev that will be a new career-best at Wimbledon. While he has won both his matches comfortably so far, he has only played clay-court specialists and is yet to be truly tested. His game is not very well suited for this surface and he is the underdog here.
This will be the eighth meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, with the Italian Fognini leading the head to head series 5-2. The Russian won their last meeting easily, at the ATP Cup this year and he has really exploded on the Tour over the past few seasons, coinciding with Fognini’s decline. While neither player is fully comfortable on grass, Rublev has shown his potential to improve on the surface, while it is unlikely that Fabio Fognini is suddenly going to become accustomed to grass at this stage in his career. Fognini is talented enough to make it interesting, but I expect Andrey Rublev to figure it out, and dominate this match, advancing to the Round of 16 here at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Andrey Rublev to win
