Andrey Rublev defeates Borna Coric in straight sets to win the St. Petersburg Open

Andrey Rublev played a stellar match in the final against Borna Coric whom he defeated in straight sets to lift the St. Petersburg Open trophy.

It has been a stellar week for Rublev on home soil and he capped it off with another great victory in the final against Coric. The match lasted a bit over one and a half hour and saw a proper battle between two great tennis players with Rublev ultimately winning 7-6(5) 6-4.

The start of the match featured very short games in which both players had no difficulties keeping rallies short. The points were usually dominated by players who served. As the match went on and as the players grew more familiar with each other the rallies lengthened. Coric showed cracks in his armour first by allowing and then saving a break point. After that, he settled nicely not allowing anything on his serve just like Rublev on his own serve. We ended up in a tiebreak.

In that tiebreak, it was the Croatian who played better initially stringing together a few spectacular rallies to take a 5-2 lead. Rublev, known for this immense fighting spirit, came back strong to win 5 points in a row. The Russian crowd was buzzing after that sensational comeback and it seemed as it was fated for Rublev to win the title. The start of the 2nd set brought calm play from both players continuing more or less in the same manner as in the first set. Even so, it was obvious that Rublev was more comfortable on the court as Coric seemed upset over the end of the set.

That prompted him to make more mistakes which Rublev took advantage of midway through the set breaking Coric to take a 4-2 lead. The Croatian continued to play his game with Rublev showing little interest to pile on the lead knowing full well he was controlling the match with his own serve. In the end, Rublev held his own serve and finished the match with a 6-4 2nd set victory. A deserved victory for Rublev, who was realistically the best tennis player in St. Petersburg this past week.