Rublev wears down Dimitrov to reach Shanghai final

Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, ended the superb run of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 18 seed, as he won a bruising encounter 7-6 (7), 6-3 at the Qi Zhong Stadium on Saturday to reach the final of the Shanghai Masters.

Rublev, ranked No 7, will play Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 16 seed, next, after winning a brutal first set and then forging ahead in the second. It will be his fourth Masters 1000 final of 2023.

First-set tiebreak the key to the match

The first set was a high-quality affair but Rublev broke first, snatching a 6-5 lead only for Dimitrov, using the backhand slice cleverly, to break back and take it to a tiebreak, prompting Rublev to tell his coach: “I don’t know what to do.”

At 3-2, Rublev received a stroke of fortune after his serve wasallowed to stand even though both players thought it was a let. Dimitrov saved a set point at 6-5 and then had one of his own, only for Rublev to shut the door with an ace, and go on to win it 9-7.

The first set took 77 minutes and though Dimitrov looked out on his feet, he broke in the opening game of the second set. The Bulgarian, who beat Carlos Alcaraz earlier in the week, led 2-1, 40-15 on his serve but was then hit by a torrent of winners from Rublev, who won six games out of seven to clinch victory.

“It’s not easy when you win matches against friends because you feel both sides,” Rublev said. “I feel really sorry for the situation in the tiebreak when it was 3-2 because it was a let, I wanted to replay the point but he behaved like a real champion and said no, it’s not about you and he gave me the point, basically. But maybe that point helped me win the tiebreak.”

Rublev said he needed to get as much rest as possible before taking on Hurkacz in the final on Sunday.

“Hubi is so tough to play, he’s one of the players you don’t want to face because he can beat everyone, the way he serves, the way he hits the ball,” he said.

Rublev is through to the final without dropping a set, having won against Frenchman Quentin Halys (6-4, 7-5), Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the No 31 seed (6-3, 6-0), American Tommy Paul, the No 12 seed (7-5, 7-5) and Frenchman Ugo Humbert, the No 32 seed (6-2, 6-3).

Dimitrov, ranked No 19, won against Australian Aleksandar Vukic (6-4, 6-3), Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 13 seed (7-6 (6), 6-4), Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed (5-7, 6-2, 6-4) and Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the No 22 seed (7-6 (2), 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Shanghai tournament.

Shanghai Masters, other semi-final result (Qi Zhong Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000):

• Hubert Hurkacz beat Sebastian Korda (26): 6-3, 6-4