Rublev beats Vesely to win 10th career singles title in Dubai
Rublev beats Vesely in straight sets to extend his winning streak to nine match
Russia’s Andrey Rublev celebrates winning the final match against Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely at the Dubai Tennis Championships
Image Credit: AI / Reuters / Panoramic
ATP 500 Dubai| Results | Schedule
Second seed Andrey Rublev won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday evening with a straight sets win over Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely. This was Rublev’s ninth win in a row after winning the Marseille 250 event on Sunday and also marked his 10th career singles title.
Ranked No 7 in the world, Rublev broke Vesely in the fourth game of the first set and held on to his serve without facing a single break point to win 6-3 and take a one-set-to-love lead.
Rublev staves off Vesely comeback in the second set
The 24-year-old Russian also broke early in the second set to go up 2-0 and had chances to break the Vesely serve again in the fifth game. The Czech qualifier managed to hold his serve for 2-3 and then broke the Russian for the first time in the match to level the set at 3-3, even while Rublev earned a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct after an argument with the chair umpire.
Getting his focus back, Rublev broke the Vesely serve on his third break chance in the seventh game and then held his serve two consecutive times to complete the 6-3, 6-4 win in one hour and 21 minutes.
The loss marked the end of a career-best week for Vesely, who came through the qualifying draw to beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic, sixth seed Denis Shapovalov, eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. A former top 40 player, Vesely will move from No 123 in the rankings back into the top 80.
