Long Island’s Noah Rubin loses to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Australian Open

Noah Rubin of the US plays a forehand return during his men's singles match against France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round of the 2016 Australian Open in Melbourne on January 20, 2016. Credit: AFP/Getty Images / PAUL CROCK
Noah Rubin’s run in the Australian Open ended Wednesday with a straight-sets loss to French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in a second-round match in Melbourne.
The 19-year-old Long Islander lost to Herbert, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.
Rubin made it to the second round after his upset win over 17th-seeded Benoit Paire in the first round on Monday. Rubin beat Paire, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).
“I feel more than ever I belong with the best players in the world,” said Rubin via text from Melbourne. “It was a very tough match, he played good tennis and I believe I was not as pumped up as the first match, which was detrimental.”
“It was a slow start and he was never able to gain much traction,” said his father and lifelong coach Eric Rubin, who stayed up until the early morning hours to watch the match on television. “He worked hard to stay into it until the end. It was an incredible experience and steppingstone for the next stage of his young career.”
Rubin entered the Australian Open ranked No. 328 in the world, a ranking that will go up because of his first-round win in a Grand Slam event.
Rubin received a wild-card entry into the main draw for accumulating the most points by an American player in a three-event challenger series last fall in which he posted his first tournament win as a professional at Charlottesville, Virginia. He will continue on the challenger trail by playing in one in Maui this coming week.
He played one previous match in a Grand Slam main field, a straight-sets loss to Argentina’s Federico Delbonis in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open. He earned that wild-card entry by winning the USTA boys junior title, which came on the heels of winning the Wimbledon junior title. With AP
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