Rublev fights back against Shapovalov to reach the St. Petersburg Open final

Saturday, 17 October 2020 at 15:20

Andrey Rublev overcame a slow start to battle back against Shapovalov and win the match booking a spot in the St. Petersburg Open final.

The start of the match was a bit of foreshadowing of things to come as Shapovalov had an early breakpoint which Rublev saved. After that, we had a run of several games where neither player had any troubles winning their own serve. Trouble arose for Rublev midway through the set when he allowed Shapovalov several breakpoints in one game. The Canadian used that opportunity to take the lead in the match. There was not much Rublev could have done from that point on as Denis was ruthless on his own serve. He ended the set moments later 6-4 not allowing Andrey a single breakpoint in the whole set.

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The 2nd set brought much better play from Rublev who was determined to exploit the only thing he could. Rublev relentlessly attacked Shapovalov on his 2nd serve and it brought results with the Canadian losing his serve early in the set and going down 4-1. After that, both players continued playing well but Rublev was clearly better and he wrapped up the set with 6-3. The momentum was clearly on Rublev's side heading into the decider set.

At the start of the set, it was Shapovalov who struck first but Rublev fended off all his attacks. He then proceeded to break the Canadian to take the 4-2 lead. Rublev had a chance to end it in the next game but Shapovalov held on. Nonetheless the Russian ended the match comfortably with 6-4. It was a strong comeback win and another final for Rublev who will be looking for another title. His chances on home soil should good against Coric or Raonic.

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What a player. What a performance. @AndreyRublev97 reaches the 8th #ATPTour final of his career, defeating Shapovalov 4-6 6-3 6-4 at the @Formula_TX! 🤩