By Kevin Craig
@KCraig_Tennis
Noah Rubin of the United States registered the upset of the day on the opening day of the 2016 Australian Open as the No. 328 ranked rookie pro knocked out the No. 17 seed Benoit Paire of France, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6.
The match was very tight throughout as neither player gave the other many opportunities to get a lead, each player was only broken three times in the match, forcing each set to go into a tiebreak. Rather surprisingly, Rubin was the one who was able to keep his composure in the big moments and take each of the three tiebreaks using his incredible speed and defense to frustrate Paire. The Frenchman was unable to break through Rubin on the important points, seeing him fall in straight sets to the 2014 Wimbledon juniors champion. Paire’s inconsistent level of play and Rubin’s defense were the major factors in the match, as Paire hit 72 unforced errors, compared to Rubin’s 22, and managed to win only 48 percent of his second serve points.
After the match, Paire refused to give any credit to the 19 year old American, and was very candid in claiming that Rubin is “not a very good player,” but that Paire “was worse than him today.” Also, Paire was heard many times throughout the match saying that he was losing to the worst player in the world. Nevertheless, Rubin moves on to the second round of a major event for the first time in his career, as he will take on another Frenchman in Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Rubin earned a wild card entry into the Australian Open in an reciprocal agreement between the U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S. Open and Tennis Australia. Rubin was granted the wild card by the USTA by virtue of having the best record among American players on the USTA Pro Circuit last fall. He won the singles title at the event in Charlottesville, Va. Rubin, 19, turned professional this summer after his freshman year at Wake Forest University, where he reached the NCAA singles final. He is a student at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York City and hails from nearby Long Island. He won the Wimbledon junior title and the USTA National Boys 18 Championships in 2014, earning him a main draw wild card into the US Open, where he lost in the first round to Federico Delbonis in his only previous major tournament main draw appearance.
