The Russian final in men’s tennis is a unique event. In the title fights of the ATP tournaments, our guys play for the first time in the last 15 years.

Medvedev’s monstrous series of victories left no hope for Rublev to defend his title in Dubai, although before the start of the tournament, few could believe that Andrei would reach that far on the grid. And so it happened. Medvedev easily beat the opponent, forcing Andrei to suffer the entire match.

Unexpected ending

The Russian final in Dubai was, of course, a huge surprise. Both tennis players, looking back at the grid and the current state, with a high degree of probability should have ended the fight earlier.

Medvedev is in good shape, but only a patriot could bet on Danya against the impeccable Djokovic. Well, Rublev completely fails the beginning of the year. In Australia, he did well and showed character on his way to the quarter-finals, but was then easily beaten by Novak.

After the Grand Slam, Andrei, like Medvedev, played in Rotterdam and Doha. However, in Holland, he flew out in the first round from De Minor, and in Qatar, in the quarterfinals, he lost to the Czech Legechka. Against the backdrop of Dani’s victories, Rublev’s result looked incomparable.

Photo: © REUTERS / Ibraheem Al Omari

However, in Dubai, Andrei clearly broke through the current ceiling and reached the excellent quality of tennis. Although he could easily go home after the second round, when he “hung” on five match points of Davidovich-Fokina. As against Rune at the 2023 Australian Open, the 25-year-old pulled out a set and a match in an unimaginable way.

In this historic Russian final for Dubai, all experts gave the title to Medvedev in advance, although the last two matches were left to his opponent.

No chance

The very first game gave several impressive rallies and greatly excited Rublev, because Danya made a break. Already 10 minutes after the start of the game, Andrey freaked out and shut up his team, which tried to prompt the Russian, sitting in the stands. The fire in the match flared up immediately.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © REUTERS / Amr Alfiky

True, Medvedev cooled the ardor on the court with his cold-blooded work on the back line and confident delivery. As strong as Rublev’s previous opponents have been, especially Zverev in the semi-finals, the current opponent stands out against this background.

In the first set, Medvedev had two break points at 3-1, but Rublev pulled out the serve, winning four draws in a row. This could have been a turning point in the first game if Medvedev hadn’t been in the best condition.

But Danya is now a machine. He made another break and finished the first set with a clean draw on his serve – 6:2. As in the game against Novak, the Russian was almost perfect: only two unforced errors and no break points from Rublev.

“I can not”

Spectators least of all wanted the second set to be the last in the tournament, so before entering the court they began to chant the name of Rublev. But this did not help the younger Russian: he started the set with two errors on the pitch. Then, however, he made an ace and forced Medvedev to commit a rare inaccuracy. And then another and another.

In one game, Danya made more mistakes than in the entire first set. As a result, Rublev was able to pick up the serve. A struggle ensued, which was characterized by relatively easy rallies for Medvedev on his serve and protracted ones at the reception.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © REUTERS / Satish Kumar

At the most inopportune moment, when the score was 2:2, the ball hit the edge of Andrei’s racket and flew high into the stands. In the very next draw, Danya made a break and finally killed the hope of saving the game in Rublev.

Medvedev took his pitch to zero – the second time in the set, then made a break again. Rublev at that moment wanted to smash everything that surrounds him to smithereens, but he only succeeded in threatening swings with a racket. Andrew was very hard to watch.

In the last game of the final, the Russian, who was inferior in all respects, shouted in his hearts: “I can’t!”, allowing Medvedev to quickly finish the match – 6:2, 6:2. It took Dana just over an hour to win.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © REUTERS / Satish Kumar

During the post-match interview, Danya was ironic and even addressed the audience in Russian:

“Thank you all for coming,” the winner excited a wave of joyful cries in the stands.

Now Medvedev is in his best shape than ever.