Andrey Rublev was left red-faced when he forgot about Alex de Minaur during his Australian Open on-court interview. The fifth seed booked his spot in the quarter-finals to face either de Minaur or Novak Djokovic and was quick to admit that he would rather face anyone but the nine-time champion in Melbourne before he was reminded that he had discounted the 22nd seed in front of the Aussie crowd.
Rublev reached the second Australian Open quarter-final of his career with a rollercoaster 6-3 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(9) win over Holger Rune on Monday. The 25-year-old now awaits the winner of a clash between Djokovic and de Minaur, but appeared to write off the home hope before the match had even started before being forced to apologise to the 22nd seed’s home crowd.
“No one wants to face Novak,” the fifth seed said of his next match. “I prefer to be in any other part of the draw but not Novak.” But John Fitzgerald – who was conducting the interview – quickly corrected him.
“Andrey don’t forget we have an Australian in this next round,” he laughed, as Rublev put his hands to his head in embarrassment and laughed off his blunder.
