Rublev Sets Sight At Qualifying For ATP Finals After Painful Shanghai Loss

Monday, 16 October 2023 at 06:52

bySebastian Dahlman

Andrey Rublev suffered a disappointing loss to Hubert Hurkacz in the Shanghai Masters final, but he's eyeing the future, more specifically the ATP Finals in Turin.

Rublev had a match point against Hurkacz but couldn't hold his nerve under the tremendous pressure. He didn't have the serve as a major weapon, unlike Hurkacz, who cruised through his service rarely encountering any problems.

It was a loss and a very disappointing one for the Russian, but he's keeping a positive attitude, hoping to finish the season strongly. The ATP Finals is the primary concern as he's yet to officially qualify for the event, even though his run in Shanghai certainly puts him in a very good position to do so.

He was asked about his expectations after the loss, and he simply said that he wants to secure the ATP Finals, and that's about the only goal that he has for the rest of the season.

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No expectation, just to keep practicing, to keep doing every day as best as I can to try to qualify for Turin, and then we'll see what's going to happen. I still have two more tournaments.

— Rublev on his goals for the rest of the season<br>

I don't know, the goal, yeah, is to qualify to Turin, so hopefully, I will be able to show great game in Vienna and Paris, and we'll see if I will make it to Turin or not, and if I will make it, then I have one more tournament.

It's a fair approach from Rublev, who had a pretty solid season overall so far, but it could have been far better had he won the Shanghai Masters. Perhaps he will add one more trophy to his tally in the coming weeks, but for now, this loss is what he mostly thinks about.