Andrey Rublev will find himself in the final of the Hamburg European Open for the second year in a row. The Russian, who lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets in the title match in last year’s edition, defeated Casper Ruud 6-4 6-2 on Saturday. The Norwegian, who last week made the semifinals at the Italian Open, was looking tired from all the tennis he’s played the past two weeks.
“Well, I was just playing good all week. I start to feel better and better clay, compared to last week in Rome. I start to get used to (it).” said the Russian, who lost to Hubert Hurkacz in Rome last week. “Match by match I was playing better and better and then the last two days I’m showing a really good level. So, I’m really happy and now I’m enjoying it, I know that I have game. This is what I was looking for here and now I’ve found it.”
Rublev was also asked about the possible effects of the medical timeout that Ruud took at the start of the second set on his own game and mentality. “When I won the second game, from 2-0, I started to see that he’s not serving the same way. He’s not serving that hard. So then, I started to be a little bit more calm. That medical timeout he took was because he had a reason. (…) I think (Ruud’s issues) gave me more confidence than something different”.
“Nerve-racking” semifinal
His championship match opponent will be Stefanos Tsitsipas. The second-seeded Greek managed to take down Cristian Garin 7-5 3-6 6-4 in a very tight three-setter. “It was nerve-racking. During the match [there were] lots of nerves,” said Tsitsipas after the match. “ It was very close and towards the end, I showed great responsibility and took advantage of my strengths.”
Garin was the first opponent that managed to seriously challenge Tsitsipas this week. The Chilean settled down after some early nerves saw him go down 2-5 in the opener. Despite three games won on the spin, Garin gave away another break as Tsitsipas pressured him at 6-5 up. But the second set was a masterpiece from Garin, who suddenly started dictating play and hitting some superb backhand winners up the line. The decider turned out to be a tight affair but it was Garin who bled first as Tsitsipas strung a couple of great points on return to go up 3-2. Despite the Chilean’s best efforts, he wasn’t able to get the break back as the second seed hit his spots on serve really well towards the end of the match.
Rublev and Tsitsipas will face each other for the fourth time in their professional history. The Russian triumphed at a Challenger in Quimper and won their last encounter at last year’s US Open. Tsitsipas was the better player in the fast-4 format at the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals. They have never played on clay.
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