(Tennis news) Andrey Rublev reached the finals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships by beating Hubert Hurkacz. Rublev had lost his previous two matches to Hurkacz and had to fight hard through a defensive masterclass to win the semifinal. The Russian started the winners early into the match but the 25 year old defended most of them to take the lead in the first set.

Hurkacz hit 10 aces and 14 winners in the opening set as Rublev was far behind with 2 aces and 5 winners. In the second set, the Polish player again served 10 aces with as many winners but the 24 year old was still behind and got through in the final game with long extreme rallies. In the final set, both players held their serve but the world number 11 only lost one point off his first serve and kept on pounding aces against Rublev. The world number 7 did not slow his strokes as he kept hitting in the final point of the match as an unforced error by Hurkacz ended the match in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Hurkacz finished the match with 27 aces, 33 winners, 9 unforced errors and also 99 points in total which was 3 more than Rublev. Rublev defeated Hurkacz 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7-5).

“I’m feeling super happy and super tired," said Rublev, who is now one win from his fifth ATP 500 title. "I could not imagine that it would happen this week again, that I would be in a final, and I’m just happy."

Jiri Vesely entered his first Masters 500 final when he beat Denis Shapovalov in a three hour, three tie breaker match. Vesely started with a 3-0 lead which was slowly pulled back as Shapovalov was quick with his feet to level the score and enter the tiebreak with growing confidence. The Canadian saved a set point with his attacking shots and took the first chance to take the set.

In the second set, the Czech started coming to the net more but it was Shapovalov who was more successful in the front as he won all the 8 net points. However, the serve quality went down for the 22 year old and had to defend 4 set points in the tiebreak but a double fault made it easy for Vesely to make a comeback. In the third set, the 28 year old was regularly serving above 200 km/ hour and his fastest serve was timed at 224 km/ hour as he only lost 4 points in his first serve. The world number 14 was still struggling with 6 double faults in the deciding set even though he was two points away from winning the match in the 10th game while returning serve. Vesely defeated Shapovalov 6-7(7-9), 7-6(7-2), 7-6(7-3).

“I think I’m having a dream run here so far," said Vesely after the win. "I was just trying my best to really enjoy it as much as possible. It was my first ATP 500 semi-final and the only way to get through is just to fight until the last point, and I’m very happy.”

Also read: Vesely stops Djokovic in Dubai, Rublev looks for first win against Hurkacz