Andrei Rublev picked up his glasses in Gikhon – Newspaper Kommersant No. 192 (7393) of 10/17/2022

The winner of the Gijon Open, the 250 category tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in Spain with a prize fund of €675,000, was Andrey Rublev, who outplayed American Sebastian Korda in two sets in the final. Having won his fourth this year and twelfth title in his career, the Russian has risen in the world ranking from ninth to eighth place and is noticeably closer to getting into the final Nitto ATP Finals tournament.

The Gijón Open Championship was held this year for the first and possibly the last time. The holding of this tournament became possible after its organizers received a one-year ATP license in connection with the cancellation of the autumn Chinese series. The composition of the participants for the competition of the 250 category turned out to be quite dense, and in order to reach the final, Andrei Rublev needed to beat three not the easiest opponents – his good friend Belarusian Ilya Ivashko, American Tommy Paul and US Open 2020 champion Austrian Dominik Thiem, who, however, from – due to a wrist injury in May, he was far outside the top hundred and set himself the goal of returning to it before the end of this season.

Rublev now faces a fundamentally different task – to break into the final tournament in Turin, which Tim, his two-time (2019, 2020) finalist, by the way, cannot even dream of now.

In the dispute for one of the three vacant trips there, along with his compatriot Daniil Medvedev, the Russian looks like a favorite, but de jure nothing is guaranteed for them. Therefore, in Gijon, Rublev needed to play as best as possible, without regard to the economy of strength, which some members of the elite resort to in small tournaments at the end of the year.

And Rublev succeeded, despite the fact that the previous week he reached the semi-finals in Astana, that is, he actually played in Spain from the sheet, adapting to the four-hour time difference on the go. The most difficult for him was the opening match against Ivashko, who seized the initiative for a while and took the second set. In the other three meetings there was not even a hint of something similar. True, the Russian lost his pitch to Paul and Tim once, but Korda failed even that in the final. The American, the son of the 1996 Australian Open winner Peter Korda, had two break points, one in each game, but he failed to convert them. Taking advantage of the not very stable game of the opponent, for whom it was only the third final at the ATP level, Rublev dominated the back line due to a good first serve and a crown right hand. In the first set, the Russian managed to make two breaks, in the fourth and eighth games, and in the second set – in the sixth. True, at the very end, Korda, with the help of Rublev, managed to win back three match points. But on the fourth match point, a very spectacular exchange of blows began, perhaps the best in the match, which the Russian calmly completed at the net. As a result – 6:2, 6:3 in 75 minutes. On the first serve, Rublev won 76% of the points, and on the second – 68%, which is an excellent indicator.

Thus, following the results of this week, Rublev managed to rise from ninth place to eighth in the ATP rating, ahead of the American Taylor Fritz.

But now much more important for him is the position in the classification, which takes into account the points scored since the beginning of this year, and forms the composition of the eight participants in the final tournament in Turin. Recall that at the moment five people have guaranteed tickets there – Carlos Alcaras, Rafael Nadal, Kasper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic, and for the rest, the “passing score” for the Nitto ATP Finals is 4080 points, although in reality it will probably still decrease. After the success of Khikhon, Rublev scored 3440 points, much closer to Daniil Medvedev with his 3555 points. Theoretically, several people can still get around the two Russians – first of all, the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the American Taylor Fritz and the Pole Hubert Hurkach, but in practice this is unlikely. In any case, the final distribution of the three remaining trips to Turin will most likely take place following the results of the Rolex Paris Masters, a Masters 1000 tournament that will be held in Paris from October 31 to November 6, and before that, both Russians plan to play in Vienna, where the champion 500 points are required.

Evgeny Fedyakov