Russian Andrey Rublev, 6th in the world, qualified for the final of the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo on Saturday by beating American Taylor Fritz (10th) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in a match interrupted 1h45 by the rain.
“The rain, the wind, the cold… But we showed good tennis and had a good match,” commented Rublev.
He had already played the title match in 2021, but he lost to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
This year, at 25, he will face the Italian Jannik Sinner (8th) or the Dane Holger Rune (9th) to try to win the best title of his career. Of the twelve trophies to his name, three were won on clay, the others on hard courts.
Fritz had won their last three duels, on hard court. But on Saturday on Monegasque soil, it was the Russian who took matters into his own hands.
However, under pressure almost the entire first set having lost his face-off three times, Fritz came back each time and managed the decisive break of the set in the final game by taking advantage of an unforced error by his opponent on his first set point.
Rublev again scored an immediate break in the second set. But this time, he was much more solid on his face-off: not only did he win all his service games, but he managed two more breaks to close the set and equalize at one set everywhere.
In the third set, Fritz was the first to score the break this time to lead 2-1, but Rublev immediately rebounded.
The rain then interrupted the game at 3-2 for Rublev.
On the restart 1h45 later, the Russian managed the break to lead 4-2 then 5-2. He then had three match points on the service of the American who got away with it, and concluded on his fourth, on his own service.
