Andrey Rublev was facing a very good friend Alexander Zverev at the 2023 Bastad Open, and he didn't feel that great after winning.
Andrey Rublev let go of any vacation ideas by signing up for the Bastad Open in a bid to win the event. The Russian was quite solid on grass but had two disappointing outings to finish the runs in Halle and Wimbledon.
The Halle Open run finished in the final as he lost to Alexander Bublik, with the Wimbledon one ending against Novak Djokovic. Playing in Bastad has been partly motivated by those results, but he also did really well last year by getting to the semi-final of the ATP 250 tournament.
That familiarity as well as the chance to possibly win the event this year all contributed to him opting to play at the event. It's been going well so far with a semi-final spot. It came after Rublev downed good friend Zverev which he talked about after the match.
I'm happy to be in my second semifinal in a row in Bastad. Today, I played really great tennis, and I'm happy with my performance, and I'm happy that I was able to win in straight sets. To play against your best friend, it's always tough, doesn't matter, if you lose, you have a sh*t feeling, and if you win, you also have a sh*t feeling, so it's a bit weird. But it's part of the sport, so sometimes we don't have an option, and we have to accept those things.
The win gives Rublev a chance to book a final as he's set to face Francisco Cerundolo in the semi-final. The Argentine is the defending champion after putting together an impressive run last year to win the event. He also leads Rublev 1-0 in the H2H, having beaten him in their only meeting last year in Hamburg.
0 Comments