(Tennis news) Andrey Rublev won his first Masters 1000 title after defeating Holger Rune 5-7 6-2 7-5 in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Rublev was 4-1 down against his 19 year old opponent from Denmark in the deciding set but managed to save two break points before leveling the match.
Rune then committed a double fault and gave Rublev a 6-5 lead before the eventual winner served out for his 13th ATP title. Rublev had lost two previous Masters 1000 finals in Monte Carlo and Cincinnati in 2021 but hit 33 winners against Rune.
Speaking after the match, the Russian world number six said “I don’t know what to say. Trailing 1-4, 0/30, then saving breakpoints, thinking there is no chance to win. But somehow I did it. I was hoping deep inside that I would have one chance. Play until the end.
“I remember the previous finals and when I was losing I thought I’d have no chance and mentally I was going down. But today I thought, ‘just believe until the end’, and this is what I was trying to do in the third set, hoping I would have an extra chance to come back and what a way to do it.”
Also read: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev knocked out of Monte Carlo Masters
