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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday November 15 2020

 
Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev brilliantly served his way past Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday in Turin.

Photo Source: Getty

Andrey Rublev may not love the conditions at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin but the Russian didn’t let that slow him down as he marched past Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday, 6-4, 6-4, to join Novak Djokovic among the undefeated ranks on the Green Group.

Tennis Express

“I think this is the fastest surface on tour,” he said after dismissing Tsitsipas to improve to 4-4 lifetime against the Greek and 2-2 lifetime at the ATP Finals. “I mean, on ATP tour, for sure fastest. There is not one tournament with the same speed of this surface.”

Rublev echoed the sentiments of Daniil Medvedev who said he felt the surface in Turin was the fastest he had ever played an ATP match on. He may have used it to his advantage on Monday as he blistered serves and took the racquet out of Tsitsipas’ hands, but he admitted that it’s not his ideal way to play.

“In my opinion, it's too much,” he said. “It should be much, much, much slower, because not really many rallies. I was practicing the first week, and when you play with the guys, even practice set, there is no rallies. Serve, winner, serve, mistake, ace, ace, and you don't even feel the conditions because there is no rallies.

“In my opinion it should be much, much slower.”


He may not have loved it but Rublev is well-suited to prosper on a fast indoor hard court – he improved to 53-32 indoors with his win and proved that he has one of the five best serves on the ATP Tour at the moment. This year Rublev is winning 86 percent of his service games, five percent higher than his career average of 81, and he was dominant on serve on Monday, winning 37 of 41 first serve points and never facing a break point against Tsitsipas.

The Greek, the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion, was duly impressed.

“I thought Andrey played really well,” Tsitsipas said. “He was serving at his best that I have ever seen him serve. I think in the first set he had, I don't know, something like 22 consecutive first serves. Maybe the stats are different, but that's the feeling I have. It was pretty good on that side.”

Rublev wasn’t just good from the service stripe, he also dominated Tsitsipas from the backcourt, playing assertive first-strike tennis and keeping his errors way down.

Tsitsipas and Rublev each hit 27 winners, but Rublev only committed 13 unforced errors compared to 27 for Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas will face Casper Ruud, who fell to Djokovic earlier on Monday.

“I still want to play good tennis, and despite the loss today I'm given more chances,” the fourth-ranked Greek said. “I want to step it up and show better tennis next time.”

Rublev will face Djokovic for the first time in his career next. He’s not sounding very confident – or maybe he’s just playing possum.

“Not much to say,” he said. “He's one of the greatest players in history, so I don't know what to say. … I hope I'm gonna win couple of games, but, no, but reality is the only thing I can do is to do my best and believe in myself. That's it. Not much to say.”

 

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