The Russian defeated the Hungarian Fuchovic in the final of the tournament in Holland and approached Federer’s record streak
Russian Andrei Rublev had another perfect tournament, winning the title in Rotterdam. In the course of the tournament, the 23-year-old Muscovite defeated the ex-first racket of the world Andy Murray, in the semifinals he dealt with the second seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, and in the decisive match in a bitter struggle he defeated the uncompromising Marton Fuchovich. For Rublev, this is the eighth title in his career (Daniil Medvedev has nine). This achievement can be called unique, considering that Andrey won eight out of ten finals.
In the decisive matches, the red-haired Russian lost only to Gael Monfils in Doha-2018 and Nikoloz Basilashvili in Hamburg-2019. But since September 2020, Rublev does not lose at all at tournaments of the ATP-500 category. Victories in Hamburg (the same Tsitsipas was defeated in the final), St. Petersburg (Borna Coric), Vienna (Lorenzo Sonego), and now success in Rotterdam. The Russian winning streak is already 20 matches. Only Murray (21) and Roger Federer (28) had more in the history of tennis. That is, before the seemingly eternal record of the Swiss, it remains to win 8 more matches in a row. Such a stable Rublev is quite capable of it.
In the final it was clear that Andrei nevertheless spent a lot of physical and moral strength in a duel with Tsitsipas (4: 4 in personal meetings). He didn’t look as fresh, didn’t take the second serve as perfectly as in other matches in Rotterdam, made only three aces (Fuchovic had six). But even in this state, Marton is not a rival to Rublev. Andrey took all the decisive rallies, never gave any doubts about his victory in the tie-break in the first set (7: 4), and when he served for the match, he finished the game in just a few minutes. Bravo, Andrey!
So far, everything is going well. Victory in the ATP Cup, the Major’s quarterfinals, and now a confident win in Rotterdam. In the rating, Andrei is as close as possible to Alexander Zverev and may soon push the German out of the seventh line of the ATP rating.
Source : sport-express.ru
