Tsitsipas beats Rublev in Monte Carlo final for first Masters 1000 title

Tsitsipas beats Rublev in Monte Carlo final for first Masters 1000 title

MONACO (AFP) - Stefanos Tsitsipas crushed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday in a one-sided final in the Monte Carlo Open for his first Masters 1000 title.

The Greek 22-year-old world No. 5 took one hour and 11 minutes to beat the Russian, ranked eighth, for the best victory in his career, after his triumph in the year-end Masters in 2019.

"I m overwhelmed with emotion," said Tsitsipas. "It s the best win of my life so far."

"It is the best thing winning my first Masters 1000 and it is even more special doing it here on home soil in Monte-Carlo and doing it on clay, which is my favourite surface."

"I knew that he was going to be a very difficult opponent to face. There were a lot of nerves coming into that match," he added, noting that he and Rublev were old foes who "always want to bring the best out of each other."

The Greek s victory in their seventh meeting gave him a 4-3 advantage in their head-to-head meetings.

"I m proud of the way I handled myself on the court," he added.

Tsitsipas now has six titles on the ATP Tour, including the year-end Masters in 2019 and four ATP 250 tournaments (Stockholm 2018, Marseille and Estoril 2019, Marseille 2020).

By the time the 23-year-old Rublev got going in the first set, the damage was done.

Tsitsipas calmly held his service games to win the first set in 32 minutes.

The second followed the same pattern as Tsitsipas broke serve in the third game. He broke again to end the match.

Rublev, who was playing in his first Masters 1000 final after eliminating Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, did not have a break point in the match.