In the final of the tournament in Halle, he lost to Alexander Bublik
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In the decisive match of the Terra Wortmann Open, the 500 category tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of €2.2 million, Russian Andrey Rublev lost in three sets to Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan. Despite this setback, in the classification, which takes into account points scored this year, Rublev moved from seventh to sixth. Bublik, who has achieved the main success so far in his career, rose in the ATP rankings immediately to 22 positions and for the first time became the 26th racket of the world.
After the end of the final of the tournament in Halle on the official website APR a video appeared with the drawing of the first point on the serve of Andrei Rublev. In the course of this very spectacular exchange of blows, Alexander Bublik first patiently fought back with the help of undercuts on the back line, after which he skillfully transferred the game to the net, where, successfully substituting the racket, he played great at the interception. Smiling, Bublik made it clear that he was very lucky, but it was absolutely natural luck, because after a couple of minutes he made a break. And then the tennis player from Kazakhstan left the first game behind him, during which he lost only five points on his serve, three of them by double faults.
There was no doubt that Andrei Rublev would hardly be easy in the fight for the Terra Wortmann Open champion title.
The game of Bublik, who has an excellent serve and uses relatively rare undercuts on right hands these days, is ideal for the grass surface, and the Russian on fast courts does not always have time to run under his signature forehand. And still, Rublev was considered the favorite – as, in fact, it should be when the seventh number of the world ranking, who won 13 ATP tournaments, meets with the 48th racket of the world, who has the only title won last season in Montpellier. In addition, in a series of meetings held at professional tournaments with his old friend in children’s competitions, the Russian was leading 3:1, losing to him for a very long time. It was in the fall of 2016 at the start of the Kremlin Cup qualification, a tournament where Bublik reached the quarterfinals at the age of 19 and actually achieved a breakthrough, largely thanks to which he soon received a lucrative offer to go under the flag of Kazakhstan.
Since then, Alexander Bublik has earned a reputation as an extremely original tennis player. The outrageous behavior of the representative of Kazakhstan, which is explained by the peculiarities of his nervous system, is sometimes no less interesting to watch than his extraordinary game with back strikes to the net between the legs, hand serves and other tennis tricks. It has repeatedly given reason to reproach Bublik for being unbalanced, but this Sunday he did not lose his inner core even after the failure in the second installment.
The main trump card that helped Bublik to defeat Rublev, of course, was the serve. 21 aces, including nine in the third set, is a very solid figure, especially considering that the reception from the Russian is in order.
Of course, Bublik would not be himself if he did not make 12 double faults, three of them in the final game. But he deliberately took risks, serving from the second ball at an average speed of 185 km / h. As a reward for courage, the leader of men’s Kazakhstani tennis received a prestigious title, which Roger Federer owned ten times from 2003 to 2019, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov three times before that, 500 rating points and €410,000, almost doubling the amount of prize money earned in one fell swoop. current season. In addition, from 38th place in the rankings, Bublik immediately climbed to 26th, where he had never been before, and will now be seeded at Wimbledon.
As for Andrei Rublev, his chagrin after the end of the match was easily explained. Having taken his first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo in April, he lost his third final this season, losing earlier in Dubai to Daniil Medvedev, and in Banja Luka to Serb Dusan Lajovic. In addition, two years ago, Rublev already reached the decisive round in Halle, where he was defeated by the Frenchman Yugo Amber. But all this did not prevent the Russian, following the results of this week, to rise in the classification on points scored this year, from seventh place to sixth. After six months of the season, he has 2605 points on his account, which means that in the four months left before the final ATP tournament in Turin, he still needs to score not so much to get there – about 1000 points.
ATP and WTA tournament finals
ATP 500 tournament in Halle (Germany). Prize fund — €2.2 million
Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan)—Andrey Rublev (Russia, 3) 6:3, 3:6, 6:3.
ATP 500 tournament in London. Prize fund — €2.2 million
Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 1) – Alex De Minor (Australia, 7) 6:4, 6:4.
WTA 500 Tournament in Berlin. The prize fund is $780,000.
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, 7) – Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6:2, 7:6 (8:6).
Tournament WTA category 250 in Birmingham (Great Britain). The prize fund is $260,000.
Elena Ostapenko (Latvia, 2) – Barbora Kreychikova (Czech Republic, 1) 7:6 (10:8), 6:4.
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