![]() ![]() He took it when Rublev’s loose forehand was too long. Rune clinched the first set when Rublev misjudged a shot that landed right on the line and mistimed his return to give Rune a break point. Rune saved four break points in the next game but Rublev took his fifth chance to pull back to 4-3 when Rune mis-hit a forehand long, and then held for 4-4. ![]() He treated the crowd to a delightful sliced backhand drop shot in the sixth game of the first set and broke Rublev’s serve with a heavy forehand winner for 4-2. Rune looked fresh despite finishing a tense semifinal against Jannik Sinner Saturday night. “Today I was like ‘OK, if you lose today at least please believe until the end.’” “I remember the previous finals I was not mentally ready and, when I was losing, I was thinking no chance to win anymore, and I was mentally going completely down,” Rublev said. Rublev had lost his two previous Masters finals - at Monte Carlo and Cincinnati in 2021 - but stayed focused. But Rune double-faulted to give his opponent the chance to serve for victory and Rublev sealed a 14th career title. The crowd jeered him and he sarcastically encouraged them to do so. The 19-year-old Dane let the match slip and lost his nerve in the 11th game of the decider, hitting two balls out of the court in frustration. Rune missed a golden chance to clinch a second Masters title after beating Novak Djokovic with a stunning comeback at the Paris Masters last November. “I was deep inside hoping (that) at least I would have one chance.” Somehow I did it,” the 25-year-old Rublev said. The sixth-seeded Rune climbed over the net to go over and congratulate him. ![]() The fifth-seeded Russian clinched victory on his second match point with an ace, stood still for a moment to check if the ball was in and then lay on his back for several moments to savor the moment. MONACO: Andrey Rublev rallied from 4-1 down in the final set to beat Holger Rune 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in the Monte Carlo Masters final on Sunday for the first Masters title of his career. ![]() Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over China’s Wang Xinyu and her compatriot Barbora Krejcikova also enjoyed a straight sets win, 6-3, 6-2 against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovic. I’ve just got to try to keep rolling on this way,” she added. “I’ve just probably caught this wave where I’m stable, where I always have a chance to play my game, be aggressive, cause troubles for the others by the game style. “The plan was, of course like all matches, to be as stable as possible, to try to make her work as much points as possible, and of course wait for comfortable ones to attack,” Gracheva said after her third career win over a top ten opponent. The win was the biggest scalp yet for Gracheva, who earlier this month reached her first WTA final, losing in Austin to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. She looked well short of her best against the 22-year-old Gracheva and had two medical visits during the one hour 11 minute match. Jabeur underwent surgery after suffering a knee injury at the Australian Open, and subsequently missed the WTA Tour’s Middle East swing. Tunisian Jabeur, beaten finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, has been working her way back from injury and on her return earlier this month went out in the third round at Indian Wells. MIAMI GARDENS, United States: Fourth seed Ons Jabeur crashed out of the Miami Open on Friday, losing her opening match to Russian qualifier Varvara Gracheva 6-2, 6-2. ![]()
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