DUBAI: Andrey Rublev on Friday recorded his first victory over Alexander Zverev in his sixth attempt to move within one win of defending his Dubai Tennis Championships title.
It took one hour and 58 minutes for the second seed to clinch a spot in the final, saving one set point in the second set to triumph 6-3, 7-6(9) over seventh-seeded Zverev.
Rublev wants to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the third repeat champion in Dubai. In his first championship match of the year, the 25-year-old, who overcame Jiri Vesely in the previous season’s finale, will take on either top-seed Djokovic or third-seed Daniil Medvedev.
The sixth-ranked player in the world arrived in Dubai after an unfortunate quarterfinal exit in Doha last week. Yet in the tournament on hard courts, he returned to form and played with assurance against Zverev.
Rublev exploded into the scene in the first game, breaking as he took the ball early to push Zverev back. The second seed made just six unforced errors in the first set while gliding around the baseline to neatly hit a variety of winners down the line.
After gaining the upper hand, Rublev maintained his aggressive style and displayed solid defence, absorbing Zverev’s hard-hitting. A set point was saved at 7/8 in a lengthy tie-break, but he blew one match chance on the German’s serve at 5-6 before winning on his sixth match point.
“I was thinking it was going to be a third set. I was preparing mentally for the third set but I somehow saved a set point. I had a couple of match points but he played well but in the end at 9/9, I made a good return and then I said ‘Ok, let’s try to make it here’. I won a crazy rally and I was lucky. It was a super intense tie-break,” ATP.com quoted Rublev as saying.
“We are really good friends, we have known each other since 10 or 11 years old. We have been together since juniors,” Rublev said of his relationship with Zverev.
“He was always like an older brother to me and in all the previous matches he beat me. Today when I was going on the court I thought I had nothing to lose. He always beats me, so why need to be tight,” he added.
Rublev will be chasing his sixth ATP 500 crown and 13th title when he competes in his 18th tour-level final on Saturday. (ANI)