We must believe that Andrey Rublev’s worst anger saves him from the most perilous situations. While he went through the entire first set of his semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov in a terrible mood, the Russian ended up making his opponent bow in the tie-break (9-7) and winning (7-6). , 6-3) in 1h49′. The 25-year-old, 7th in the world, thus won his 50th victory of the season to qualify for a second Masters 1000 final this year, after his victory in Monte-Carlo in April.
At 32, Dimitrov has not won a semi-final of a tournament of this caliber since that of Cincinnati in 2017, an event he won before winning the Masters and taking 3rd place. worldwide. Since then, the Bulgarian has not won a title.
Rublev reaction but more efficient
The striker of Carlos Alcaraz, however, seemed to have taken matters into his own hands in each set of his semi-final. But while he was leading 3-2, 0-40 in the first, he saw his tough opponent save 4 break points to come back level then save a set point in the tie-break on an ace. And after seizing the opponent’s serve at the start of the second set, Dimitrov suffered the lightning of Rublev, who played 5 games in a row. At 5-2, the Russian let his return game slip away to better concentrate on his serve and conclude with a shutout punctuated by a 9th ace after having served 74% of first serves.
With 50 victories in 70 matches on the clock this season, Stakhanovite Rublev is quickly approaching his victory records in 2021 (53) and 2022 (51). If he wins this Sunday against Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated Sebastian Korda in the first semi-final, he will have three titles this year after Monte-Carlo and Bastad. The Pole and the Russian have faced each other four times and each has two victories to date.
