Russia’s tennis star Andrey Rublev has revealed that he has mixed feelings after beating his close friend Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
The duo faced off in the semifinal of the ongoing Shanghai Masters where the world number seven came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-3.
Talking about it after the match, Rublev stated that it was definitely hard to face a close friend because it made him sad to beat him but at the same time, he wanted to win the contest as well.
"It's not easy when you win matches against friends because you feel both sides,” he said. “You feel sad, but at the same time, you want to win. So it's like a mixture of the feelings. But I don't know.
"I feel really sorry for the situation as the tiebreak at 3-2 because it was the let and I wanted to reply the point and Grigor, I don't know, he behaved like a real champion and said, 'No it's not about you,' but so he gave me the point basically. And basically, maybe because of this point I was able to win the tiebreak.”
Rublev will now face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the competition on Sunday. Both players have faced off four times in the history of tennis where both players went on to win two times each.
2 - With Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev now reaching eight and six finals each in 2023, it is the second time in the Open Era two Russians have made more than five ATP-level finals in a season - Kafelnikov/Safin, 2000. Peak. #RolexShanghaiMasters | @SH_RolexMasters @atptour
