Stan Wawrinka speaks extremely highly of Andrey Rublev ahead of Paris clash

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka spoke extremely highly of rising Russian star Andrey Rublev ahead of their Paris Masters clash as the Swiss admits he expects to have a tough job against the Russian. 

Wawrinka, ranked at No. 20 in the world, is seeking to win his first title of the season at Bercy but his path to winning it all won't be easy as today he is set to meet No. 5 seed Rublev in the round-of-16.

Rublev, who made it all the way last week in Vienna, has won five titles this season and his record against Wawrinka stands at 1-1.

Wawrinka easily beat Rublev when they met in Chennai in 2016, before the Russian beat the Swiss at the Cincinnati Masters last year.

"Last time we played he beat me in Cincinnati. He's playing so well this year. He's winning so many matches, so many tournaments. He's full confidence. He's one of the best players this year. So it's going to be interesting to see my level against him," Wawrinka said of facing Rublev, per Tennis Majors.

Wawrinka claimed a hard-fought win over Tommy Paul

No. 12 seed Wawrinka recovered from a set down to beat world No. 55 Paul 4-6 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the Paris Masters second round.

"Precisely that is part of what I said about my desire to end my career as well as possible. It's in matches like this that you start to push yourself to the max and that's where you have to hold out and fight," Wawrinka said.

Wawrinka, 35, wants to have a big offseason and make one last push in 2021.

"I think I took stock of what I still want to do in tennis. I'll do whatever it takes to try to make it happen," Wawrinka noted.

After beating Dan Evans in the first round, former world No. 3 Wawrinka acknowledged that he is not done yet.

"I'm close to the end of my career, but I also believe I have one last push that I really want to, again, one more time push myself to the limit, make the sacrifice that you need to make to be at my top, and I'm trying to do that," Wawrinka said after beating Evans at Bercy.

"I think in general I'm playing well. I'm feeling good. But not yet at the maximum I feel, and I'm going to take the next few weeks to try to push it for next year."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2I2NWhk