Edinburgh’s Jacob Fearnley will face Russia’s world No 15 Andrey Rublev on Monday as his reward for coming through two qualifying ties to reach the first round of the Paris Masters tennis.
The pair have never met and it would be a career best result for the ex-Colinton junior and Merchiston Castle tennis academy alumini if he could get the better of the former world No 5 and 12th seed for the Paris event.
However, in easing past German veteran Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 6-2 to book his place Jacob appeared to have plenty to spare.
For much of the match he seemed to be playing within himself, content to build up pressure and force mistakes.
The impression was the Scot had extra gears and if he repeats form shown in going down to world No 3 Alex Zverev only in a third set tie-breaker last week in Vienna then a big win could be on the cards.
Rublev is undoubtedly a quality player but unlike Zverev has never been past the quarter finals at a grand slam event. At 28 he is four years older than Fearnley.
To begin his Paris qualification on Saturday Jacob was equally controlled and methodical in beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets.
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