Rublev almost fell back into his old ways: "I deserved to lose".

Week after week, Andrey Rublev's fortunes continue to go from strength to strength. Despite his victory (4-6, 6-4, 7-5), the world number 6 didn't put on a very glowing performance. After winning the title in Madrid last week with an uncharacteristically fresh mental approach, the Russian turned on the lights again in Rome.

Indeed, while he had been very quiet in Spain, suffering from various bouts of illness throughout the tournament, the Russian showed himself to be very nervous when he entered the fray in Italy. Facing Marcos Giron (49th), the Moscow native gave in to his old habits. Making many mistakes and showing himself to be very nervous, Rublev came very close to being sent off. In a match where both men made winners and mistakes, he conceded the first game before seeing the American serve for the match in the third set. Taking advantage of his opponent's errors towards the end of the match, Rublev pulled through miraculously.

Aware of having played a very average match, both tennis-wise (26 winners, 32 unforced errors) and mentally, the Madrid champion was very hard on himself: "On the court, I was very angry to have let my emotions out. I missed a lot of chances because of that. I deserved to lose, but any victory is worth taking."

For a place in the last 16, he will face France's Alexandre Muller (109th in the world, qualifier).