Defending champion Rublev marches into DDF tennis championship final

03.03.2023 - 22:17 arabnews.com

DUBAI: Andrey Rublev is pursuing his quest to become the first player since Roger Federer in 2015 to claim back-to-back Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship titles after marching to this year’s final.

Rublev stormed into the ATP 500 final at this week’s DDF championship, edging out childhood friend and No. 7 seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets in front of a capacity crowd at DDF Tennis Stadium.

It took the defending champion and World No. 6 a tiebreak to clinch the match 6-3, 7-6 (9) and continue his pursuit to clinch back-to-back titles.

Zverev’s hopes of reaching a first final since suffering serious injury at Roland Garros last June were quashed on Friday. “I was thinking it was going to be a third set, and maybe that helped me,” said Rublev. “It was a super intense tiebreak.

tennis Rafael Nadal Daniil Medvedev Roland Garros Novak Djokovic Andrey Rublev Germany Tunisia Dubai

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