Andrey Rublev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) on Saturday (March 6) to advance to the final in Rotterdam and extend his winning run in ATP 500 events to 19 matches.
Fourth seed Rublev broke Tsitsipas twice in the opening set and put the second-seeded Greek away with a dominant tie-break to secure victory in 97 minutes.
Rublev, through to a fourth straight ATP 500 final, will face Marton Fucsovics on Sunday after the qualifier from Hungary swept past Borna Coric 6-4, 6-1. World number eight Rublev is bidding for his eighth career title. The Russian holds a 7-2 record in tour-level finals.
“(I play tennis) to play at the best level, to play at the best tournaments, to try to compete, then to go deep and to try to win them,” Rublev said.
“A final is always special, so I am going to try to do my best tomorrow.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas Calls Naomi Osaka a “great human being”
Stefanos Tsitsipas has attributed Naomi Osaka’s incredible form to the ‘Souvlaki’ as the Greek commends Osaka for lifting the women’s game.
Tsitsipas said he is “happy” for the Japanese tennis player, adding that she has been playing “unbelievable tennis”, especially in Grand Slams.
He added that he was delighted to see “women’s tennis being taken over by such an inspiring, such a charming player like her”.
The reigning US Open champion picked up her second Australian Open title this year, becoming only the second woman since Maria Sharapova to win four Grand Slam championships.
Adding that it was “really good for the game to have players like her”, Tsitsipas said he is convinced that the Souvlaki she ate ahead of the Australian Open final may have had something to do with how it turned out for her.
“She had Greek food apparently, and I’ll just tell her one thing: I think it was all because of Greek food,” the World Number 6 said.
Sourced By: AFP
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