Rublev bests Djokovic to claim Serbia Open victory, earns 3rd title of season

Andrey Rublev defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 to win the Serbia Open for his third title of the season on Sunday in Belgrade, Serbia.

The second-seeded Russian player dug deep to stop Djokovic from mounting another comeback as he prevented the top-ranked Serb from claiming his first title of 2022.

Djokovic had already came back from a set down in each of his three matches at his hometown tournament, defeating Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic and Karen Khachanov on his way to the final in what were only his fifth, sixth and seventh matches of the year.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion opened his clay-court season with a surprising loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Monte Carlo Masters the previous week, his first match since being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships in February.

The moment when <a href="https://twitter.com/AndreyRublev97?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AndreyRublev97</a> defeated the reigning World No. 1 for the first time