By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, October 16, 2022
Andrey Rublev swept Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-3 in the Gijon final, improving to 4-0 in finals in 2022—and stepping closer to securing a spot in Turin.
Photo credit: Getty
Finals evoke calm ferocity in Andrey Rublev.
Today, Rublev fused finishing power and focus for a commanding Gijon Open final.
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The top-seeded Rublev ripped 29 winners sweeping Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-3 to capture his fourth title of the season.
Rublev raised his 2022 record to 47-16, including a perfect 4-0 mark in finals. Rublev's championship collection includes Dubai and Marseille in February and Belgrade, which he won last April.
Defending his backhand during a crackling championship point, Rublev cranked a crosscourt forehand to take charge of the rally and finished his fourth title with a forehand volley winner thrusting his arms in triumph.
Continuing his quest to secure a spot in the season-ending ATP Finals, Rublev is in prime position to qualify for the eight-man field in Turin. Rublev is in sixth place in the Race for Turin as he closes in on qualifying for the third consecutive year.
The explosive Rublev owns one of the most devastating forehands in the sport—and can occasionally implode in raging eruptions that recall the young Marat Safin.
An impressive feature of Rublev's imposing march to his 12th career title is how well he kept his cool—for the most part—amid the dual pressures of playing for a title and for a place in the season-ending event.
Sure, there were times in his 6-4, 6-4 semifinal win over Dominic Thiem when Rublev showed frustration in his favorite fashion. We saw Rublev screaming misgivings into his hand, smack himself in the face and whack his foot repeatedly with his Head racquet like a man trying to dislodge his shoe by force.
In Rublev's case this season, the storm sometimes comes before the calm.
Those brief bursts of rage gave way to the ruthless Rublev of today's final.
The Russian's laser forehand is lethal because he can take the stroke so early and generate such devastating racquet-head speed from such a relatively compact swing.
Rublev's forehand is so fast it comes at you with the speed of a BB and the weight of a bowling ball.
Dictating points with that fierce forehand, Rublev broke for 3-1 and backed up the break with a love hold for 4-1.
Rublev prevailed in back-to-back deuce games scoring his second break to take the first set.
Credit Korda, who knocked off Roberto Bautista Agut, former No. 1 Andy Murray and Arthur Rinderknech to reach his first final since the 2021 Delray Beach, with trying to change things up.
"It's nice to see all the hard work pay off even though it didn't go my way today," Korda said afterward. "Andrey played really well—he's a little more experienced than me in finals but it was still a good match on my part."
Korda's two-handed backhand is a smooth weapon and he used it at times to angle the Russian wide and create space for down the line daggers.
Still, Rublev stamped successive love holds to start the second set. The heavy-hitting Russian broke for 4-2.
The sometime shallow Rublev second serve and his habit of blowing up under pressure are two areas he's working to manage. Rublev hit the second serve with depth when he needed it most today, winning 13 of 19 second-serve points and saving both break points he faced.
Rublev withstood Korda's pressure in his final two service games closing in 73 minutes.
The 24-year-old Rublev raised his career finals record to 12-5 and improved his record vs. opponents ranked outside the Top 40 to 31-3.
Meanwhile, Korda fell to 1-2 in finals and 3-7 vs. Top 10 opponents.