Led to nothing by Taylor Fritz before coming back level, Andrey Rublev was able to better manage a long interruption by the rain and qualified for his second final of the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo.
Two years later, Andrey Rublev offers himself a new chance in Monte-Carlo. The Russian, seeded number 5 in the Principality, was able to get the better of Taylor Fritz to qualify for the final of the first Masters 1000 of the season on clay. Andrey Rublev hit hard from the start with the break obtained at the end of the first game but was unable to maintain this advantage. Indeed, a streak of three games having seen the one who started losing allowed the American to come back up to par. Managing to regain the upper hand in order to lead five games to four, serving in stride to win the set, the Russian lost his footing.
Taylor Fritz raised his level of play to erase this late break again and then go and snatch the set at the gates of the decisive game, thus taking his opponent’s serve for the fourth time. Back to the wall, Andrey Rublev could not help but react and he took advantage of the drop in tension of the world number 10. After taking the service of the American from the start, the Russian finished the second set in a cannonball. Thanks to four games won consecutively, not without having discarded two break points along the way, the world number 6 totally restarted this semi-final on the fourth set point on the service of Taylor Fritz.
2023 Monte Carlo finalist @AndreyRublev97 🙌#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/sLejV1PcV4
— Rolex Monte Carlo Masters (@ROLEXMCMASTERS) April 15, 2023
Rublev handled the interrupt better
The American had not said his last word and, after two first games relatively well managed by the one who served, he managed to make the break. However, the tournament’s number 8 seed did not confirm this. Andrey Rublev replied in stride to return to height and then won his service game. It was then that the rain hit the Monte-Carlo Country Club, forcing the two players into the locker room. An interruption which lasted almost two hours and which saw Taylor Fritz as leaving the match. Indeed, as soon as the resumption, the American lost his service and showed a lot of nervousness.
Confirming his break to lead five games to two, Andrey Rublev did everything to conclude as quickly as possible but the success was not there. After missing three match points, the world number 6 saw Taylor Fritz hold his face-off. What was ultimately only a setback. On a last blank game. the Russian sealed the fate of this semi-final (5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in 2h11′) and will play his third Masters 1000 final in his careerthe second in Monte-Carlo after the loss conceded against Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021. The seed number 7 Jannik Sinner or Holger Rune, sixth in the hierarchy, will be on his way this Sunday.
