Medvedev fires 23 aces to beat Rublev for Hangzhou title
Daniil Medvedev (No. 1) hit 23 aces and never lost serve in beating Andrey Rublev (No. 2) 7-5, 6-4 to win the Hangzhou Open on Tuesday. His 22nd hard-court title makes him, at 30, the oldest ATP champion of the season, and he joked to his friend that their next final should be at a Masters 1000.
Daniil Medvedev, 2026 | © Imago / PsNewz
Top seed Daniil Medvedev did not drop his serve all match. He hit 23 aces to beat second seed Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday afternoon and win the AITO Hangzhou Open.
It is the 24th title of Medvedev’s career and his 22nd on hard courts, which draws him level with Michael Chang, Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe on the Open Era list. Twenty-three of his 24 titles have come in different cities. At 30 years and seven months, he is the oldest ATP Tour champion this season. After Brisbane and Dubai, he also becomes the third man with three titles in 2026, joining Jannik Sinner (6) and Ben Shelton (4).
The world No. 6 held all 11 of his service games and saved both break points he faced. He won 85 percent of his first-serve points (40 of 47) and landed 70 percent of his first serves. Rublev, ranked No. 24, hit four aces and saved five of the seven break points against him, but Medvedev converted the two that decided the sets.
It was Medvedev’s first win over a Top 25 player since he beat world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinals. It also took his lead in their head-to-head to 8-2. Their only previous final, in Dubai in 2023, also went to Medvedev, 6-2, 6-2.
Medvedev reached the final with wins over Chak Lam Coleman Wong 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3, Frenchman Valentin Royer 7-6 (6), 6-3 and Roman Safiullin 7-5, 6-4. Rublev had beaten Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet 7-6, 6-1 and Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-3, before a semifinal win over Frenchman Hugo Gaston 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-1. Rublev was chasing his 19th title and his second of 2026 after Bastad.
We probably play a bit worse than before in terms of results. We did a final of 500, 250, now time for one Masters 1000.
The two longtime friends exchanged warm words during the trophy ceremony.
“First of all Andrey, I think the same. After what we said in Dubai, we don’t need to repeat each other. I’m really happy to see you in this final,” Medvedev said. “We probably play a bit worse than before in terms of results. We did a final of 500, 250, now time for one Masters 1000. And after in 5 years, a Slam. I’m happy to see you in the final. Sorry that I served good today. Hopefully we can finish the season this strong.”
“First of all I want to say a few words to Daniil. To be honest I don’t know what to say. After so many years we said so many things to each other. So I don’t know what else to say,” Rublev said. “I just wanna congratulate you and say a big hi to all your family. I hope we will have many, many, many more memories over the years in the future.”
