The fifth racket in the world, Rublev, started the year with three victories, but we cannot say that they were easy, even if the opponents were not famous. At the start of the Hong Kong tournament, Briton Liam Brodie was defeated, then he beat young Arthur Fiss and Shang Juncheng in just three sets.
In the semifinals against the Chinese, who had previously eliminated the powerful American Francis Tiafoe, Rublev scored 29 winners and made 12 aces. For the Russian, this final will be the 24th of his career.
Emil Ruusuvuori, ranked No. 69 at ATP, also had a tough semifinal, needing three sets to defeat Sebastian Ofner. Like Rublev in the other semi-final, the Finn lost the first set 4-6.
However, he restored parity by breaking in the 12th game of the second set, then won the third game, leaving only 3 games to his opponent. in third place. The Finn will now try to achieve his 100th victory in ATP matches and win the first title of his career.
It is also worth noting that this week Ruusuvuori eliminated two Russians from the tournament at once: Karen Khachanov and Pavel Kotov.
Rublev had won two of his previous three fights against Ruusuvuori, but the last match – in the second round in Cincinnati last year – ended with the Finn winning a third-set tiebreaker.
Predictions for the match between Andrey Rublev and Emil Ruusuvuori
Rublev and Ruusuvuori play well on the back line. They have quite similar playing styles: strong serve, powerful forehands and backhands, good mobility.
However, Rublev has the advantage due to his experience, consistency and good hard court play. Rublev has won 209 matches and nine titles on this surface, while Ruusuvuori has 76 victories on hard court and no titles.
Even though both players lost in straight sets this week, the more experienced Rublev can be expected to come out on top.
Forecast: Rublev wins in three sets.
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
