Vienna (AFP)
The Russian Andrey Rublev, 8th player in the world, won his fifth title on Sunday this season and validated his ticket to the Masters by dominating 6-4, 6-4 the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (42nd) in the final of the tournament in Vienna.
With his coronation in Austria, Rublev is now the player who has won the most titles in a 2020 season cut by five months by the Covid-19.
Above all, he is now certain to participate in his first Masters, the tournament which brings together the eight best players of the past season, from November 15 to 22 in London.
In a disputed match, Rublev was satisfied with a break in each set to impose his law on his opponent, who had distinguished himself in the quarter-finals by sharply eliminating (6-1, 6-2) the N.1 world Novak Djokovic.
At the same stage of the event, Rublev had also signed a performance, eliminating the Austrian Dominic Thiem (N.3) in front of his home crowd.
Throughout his week in Vienna, the Russian did not concede a single service game, enough to allow him to win the seventh title of his career at 23, his fifth on hard.
He won his two other coronations on clay, in 2017 in Umag (Croatia) and this year in Hamburg.
The two finalists have both planned to compete in the Masters 1000 de Bercy, which starts on Monday.
The Parisian tournament will award the last ticket for the Masters, for which the Argentinian Diego Schwartzman (9th) is best placed.
Besides Rublev, Djokovic and Thiem, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are already assured of their place in London.
With Medvedev and Rublev, Russia will have two Masters singles representatives for the first time since 2000, when Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov both qualified.
Last year, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat the odds to win his first Masters.
© 2020 AFP