Andrey Rublev of Russia beat Holger Rune of Denmark 5-7 6-2 7-5 to win the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters title on Sunday. It was the 25-year-old Russian’s first Masters 1000 title, as he prevailed after battling for almost three hours.
The 19-year-Dane, however, had only himself to blame as he wasted a few opportunities to win the match. On that note, we will take a look at how the match progressed:
Andrey Rublev Edges past Holger Rune to win Monte Carlo Title
Holger Rune targeted Rublev’s backhand:
Right from the very beginning, Rune’s strategy was simple: to target Rublev’s backhand. He kept pushing Rublev to the latter’s backhand corner with the help of his crosscourt backhand and inside-out forehand. The Dane then played drop shots off his backhand to leave the Russian to cover a lot of ground.
However, the execution of his drop shot was not always perfect. As a result, Andrey Rublev managed to chase the ball down and then win the point on a few occasions.
Still, Rune broke the Russian to lead 4-2 at one point. However, Rublev broke back immediately to level the score. Rune then got another break of serve to win the first set.
Rune was not clinical enough in the net as Andrey Rublev defended superbly:
Throughout the match, it was obvious that Rune was the player with more weapons. However, to his credit, Rublev defended superbly and thereby managed to stay afloat in a lot of rallies.
Rune was guilty of not finishing off points from the net even when he had the chance to do so. He tried to play drop volleys off his backhand at times when he should have gone for a more forceful volley winner.
All of that allowed Rublev to come back from a 0-3 deficit in the final set after he had won the second set convincingly. Rune also hit a few shots long towards the latter stages of the match and Rublev played a few wonderful lobs. The Russian finished the match with an ace and celebrated by lying down on the surface.
Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
