23-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev was one of the players to beat last season. He won 41 games and cracked the top 10 for the first time. Born in Moscow, the year 2021 got off to a great start with eight wins in a row at the ATP Cup and the Australian Open before losing the quarter-finals to Daniil Medvedev at Melbourne Park.
After returning to Europe, Andrey extended his ATP 500 winning streak to 19, matched Rafael Nadal’s record and, since 2009, has only been at this level with Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Rublev conquered Hamburg, St.
Petersburg and Vienna and took four wins in Rotterdam this week to reach the tenth ATP final and the sixth since Doha 2020. In the semifinals, Andrey defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in one hour and 38 minutes 6: 3, 7: 6, scored his third victory over the Greek and set the title fight against Marton Fucsovics or Borna Coric.
Andrey Rublev is the fourth player to have 19 consecutive ATP 500 wins since 2009
Rublev was the more aggressive player, hitting 34 winners and 14 casual mistakes, leaving Tsitsipas with a 16-13 ratio.
Andrey saved all five break chances, forcing Stefanos to follow that pace if he wanted to stay competitive. The Greek played against three breakpoints and was broken twice in the first set before the Russian sealed the deal in the tiebreaker of the third set.
Andrey took the advantage with a break in the third game after Tsitsipas’ double fault and secured a chance of a break in the next to take a 3-1 lead. Stefanos forced the opponent’s mistake in game five to secure a breakpoint and avoid an even bigger deficit, and missed a chance on return the next when his forehand landed wide.
Andrey, who served 4-3, fended off three breaks and broke off 5-3 to finish the first set in 45 minutes. Both players did well in the second set, keeping the returnees away from break chances and setting a tiebreak, which is a must for Tsitsipas.
Rublev opened it with a forehand winner and took a 2-0 lead when Tsitsipas left a forehand in the net. The Greek sprayed another forehand mistake on the fifth point and dropped 4-1 before Andrey sealed the deal with two winners 5-2 to advance into the title fight.
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