On the way to London: Rublev won the tournament in St. Petersburg

Russian tennis player Andrei Rublev won the tournament in St. Petersburg - St.

Peterburg Open.

In the decisive match, he defeated last year's finalist Croatian Bornu Coric with a score of 7: 6, 6: 4.

The competition in St. Petersburg was crucial for Rublev in terms of a potential debut hit in the final tournament, which will be held in mid-November in London.

Whatever the outcome of the final in the updated list of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), he would have taken the eighth place, for the first time climbing so high.

However, the victory over Coric brought him 500 rating points, which allowed him to bypass the Italian Matteo Berrettini and Argentine Diego Schwarzman in the championship race, and also come close to the seventh-placed Alexander Zverev.

Here, the fact that St.

The Peterburg Open received the ATP 500 category this year, becoming the most prestigious Russian tournament.

Rublyov, who gained excellent shape, was initially considered the favorite of the current match, although Coric, seeded at number seven, could not be called a whipping boy.

The statistics of personal confrontation also spoke in favor of the Russian.

The rivals met three times and three times the victory remained with the native of Moscow, who at the same time did not give his opponent a single set.

At the same time, the last time they met on the court a little over a year ago at the Masters in Shanghai, so each of the tennis players needed time to get used to the opponent's play.

Both players made it to the decisive match without too many problems, facing the most serious resistance in the semi-finals.

Rublev in three sets defeated the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who gained momentum, and Coric took over his strong compatriot Milos Raonic.

Both the Russian and the Croat had to get out from the score 0: 1 in batches, so from the point of view of fatigue, both were in a fairly equal position.

The tennis players started the match confidently, using their main trump cards - aces and active actions on the first serve.

And yet, in the Russian's game, there was a great confidence and calmness: even yielding to his serve, he pulled himself together and regained control over the course of the rally.

With the score 3: 2 in the first set, Andrey had the opportunity to make a break, but the opponent turned on a strong first serve and did not give up his game.

The outcome of such an equal first game could have been decided in no other way than in a tie-break.

Here Rublev stepped back a little, began to act as the second number, he lost a victorious first serve.

This was used by Choric, who led - 5: 2.

In such a difficult situation, the Russian again demonstrated composure and not only won five draws in a row (two of which were served by a Croat), but also brought the set to victory.

The second batch developed along a similar scenario.

And although success in the first set gave Rublev confidence, sometimes he still lost control of himself, and after mistakes he screamed in frustration and beat the racket on the court.

However, it seemed that this only helped him to throw out the accumulated tension, find the necessary calmness and put pressure on his opponent again.

All this led to the fact that in the fifth game the Russian earned two break points on the serve of Coric and managed to realize the second of them.

Then he had to bring the match to victory and he coped with his task perfectly.

The match lasted 1 hour 39 minutes.

Rublev made seven aces against eight for Coric, and in terms of the percentage of goals won in the first serve, they were almost equal.

At the same time, the Russian realized the second serve much better and made fewer double mistakes.

In total, he has 74 points won, while the Croat has 63.

View this post on Instagram

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MATCH RUBLEV-CORIC🔥🔥🔥 @andreyrublev @bornacoric ⠀ # formulath # spbopen #formulatx #spbopen #champion # champion # victory

Publication from ST.

PETERSBURG OPEN 2020 (@formula_tx) Oct 18, 2020 at 9:01 PDT

For the Russian, this success became the fourth in 2020 and the sixth in his career.

In terms of the number of trophies won this season, he caught up with the first racket of the world, Novak Djokovic.

“The opponent played well, I was lucky in the tie-break with the score 2: 5.

It's just that today is my day.

Bourna is one of those players who fight to the end, he beat many top players.

Besides, he is a good person, ”the winner shared his impressions.

Interestingly, for the second year in a row, the title won becomes Rublyov's gift for his birthday, which he celebrates on October 20.

Last season, the Muscovite won the Moscow Kremlin Cup.

“Will I always give myself such gifts in the form of birthday trophies?

Well, my birthday is in two days, I didn't even think about it, but it's nice, "Rublev admitted.

The spectators of the 7,000th Sibur Arena became the witnesses of its success.

Due to the pandemic, the number of seats was cut, but this did not prevent the fans from actively supporting the compatriot.

It should be noted that the organizers of St. The Peterburg Open did their best not only to host a tournament, but also to arrange a real show for the audience. Before the final, former and current Zenit footballers Anatoly Tymoshchuk and Dejan Lovren unexpectedly appeared on the court. They acted as captains of two teams - "St. Petersburg Bears" and "St. Petersburg Lionesses", respectively. The first included the sixth racket of the world Daniil Medvedev and the general director of the tournament and the president of the blue-white-blue Alexander Medvedev, the second - the former Russian tennis player Dinara Safina and the winner of Roland Garros 1997 Iva Majoli. In an exhibition doubles match, the victory was won by the female duo with a score of 6: 2. The big tennis evening ended with the performance of the famous Russian singer Polina Gagarina.