(Monte Carlo) Russian Andrey Rublev, 6e world, qualified Saturday for the final of the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo by beating the American Taylor Fritz (10e) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in a match interrupted 1:45 by rain.
“Rain, wind, 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 (8e) or Danish Holger Rune (9e) to try to win the best title of his career. Of the 12 trophies to his name, three have been 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 had 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 scored two more breaks to close the set and tie it 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 broke 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.