Andrey Rublev reached the 19th ATP Tour final of
his career with a comeback win over American
Taylor Fritz in bruising
conditions at the
Monte-Carlo Masters.
Despite the pressure of being the highest seed left in the
draw, the Russian came out on top as he triumphed 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 over the American
in a rain-delayed two hours six minutes on the Court Rainier III. He will now go
in to Sunday’s final looking to secure his first Masters 1000 title after
losing in his two previous finals, one here in Monte Carlo in 2021 and another in
Cincinnati the same year.
It was an erratic first set by both players as the rain
clouds threatened overhead, Rublev conceding the early break he had earned by
pushing a forehand wide to level the match at 2-2. With much of the match
played backhand to backhand, the young duo then shared breaks of serve before
Fritz stopped the returner’s dominance with a solid hold to lead 4-3.
It was finely balanced, but it was Rublev –
the highest seed remaining in the draw – who had the chance to claim the opener
when he broke again and then served for it at 5-4. Three times the Russian had
been a break up in the set but he couldn’t close it out as Fritz broke again to
make it 5-5. It was the American now with the momentum and there was an inevitability
about proceedings as he broke the Rublev serve once more, pinching the set 7-5,
much to Rublev’s frustration.
The Russian could have been forgiven for feeling flat after
he somehow let the opener slip through his grasp, but he righted the wrongs in
the second, a driven return stretching Fritz and Rublev was again up an early
break. The man from Moscow has belief in his game and he finally backed up the
break – something he couldn’t do in the first set – as he wrong-footed Fritz
with a forehand winner.
He fought off a Fritz breakpoint with a barrage of powerful
groundstrokes to lead 3-1 before getting some insurance with another break after
Fritz had gone long from another scorching return. The Russian was 4-1 up and
he saw it through with yet another break to take it 6-1 and move the match into
the decider. Rublev had won 76% of his first serve points in the second compared
to Fritz’s 33% and if those figures remained there was only going to be one
winner.
But it was the American who made the first move in the final set, a
powerful forehand winner securing the break 2-1. However, in a match that saw
no less than 13 breaks of serve, it was back to another misstep from the man
with ball on racket as Fritz relinquished his grip on the match and handed
Rublev the initiative as the Russian broke with a backhand winner.
A rain break of an hour and 48 minutes delayed proceedings
with Rublev 3-2 up on serve but upon the resumption of play it was the Russian
who grabbed his chance in the swirling wind, forcing Fritz into some remarkable
defence before clipping the line with a winner after the best rally of the
match. He was 4-2 up now and he continued his dominance in the next game to put himself in touching distance of the final.
Rublev won nine of the first 11 points played after the restart and, after failing to convert two match points on the Fritz serve, he finished the match in style with a marvellous forehand winner to end a three-match losing streak against the American. He will look to claim his first Masters 1000 title against either Jannik Sinner or Holger Rune in Sunday's showpiece final.