MELBOURNE: Russian tyro Andrey Rublev spent his day off sparring in Melbourne boxing ring in readiness for his clash with world number one Andy Murray at the Australian Open here on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old son of a former professional boxer earned his first grand slam main draw victory on Monday when he felled Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and now takes aim at the British top seed.

Rublev, once accused of threatening an opponent at a tournament in Moscow, worked up a sweat sparring with one of the coaches at the city’s Fight Club gym.

“I’m so excited, I have nothing to lose. He’s the best tennis player at the moment. So I will just try to take a great experience from this, from tomorrow’s match and we’ll see,” Rublev told the ATP website ahead of the biggest match of his career.

Murray, also a keen boxing fan, came through his opener against Illya Marchenko in three sets.

Published in Dawn January 18th, 2017