UTS Grand Final: Rublev qualifies for Final Four, gaining revenge over Schwartzman in London
Andrey Rublev “Rublo” has recorded his second win of the day at the UTS Grand Final in London, defeating Diego Schwartzman “El Peque” in sudden death
Andrey Rublev “Rublo” has defeated Diego Schwartzman “El Peque” in a terrific sudden death match in Group A of the UTS Grand Final, winning the encounter 15-13, 12-13, 13-12, 10-16, 4-3.
The victory takes Rublo to the top of Group A after his win over Casper “The Iceman” Ruud earlier in the day, and ensures he’ll participate in the Final Four on Sunday.
With both men playing their second match of the day at the UTS Grand Final in London, the clash produced a tennis of the highest calibre. Very little separated the two, and while El Peque seemed to be the one with the cooler head, it was ultimately the aggressive, risk-taking play of Rublo that saw the Russian prevail and come within range of the Final Four already.
“I was lucky,” Rublev said after the match, in typical Rublo-style.
Rublo wins tight opening quarter
The opening quarter began in relatively sedate fashion, with a Rublo fault. The pair tested each other out, tentatively trading shots in the opening exchanges. It was Rublev who first pulled ahead, building a 7-3 lead across the first three minutes.
However, Schwartzman found his mojo with an excellent retrieval of a Rublev volley, hunting the ball down before passing his opponent. This burst of energy saw the Argentinian go on a mid-quarter tear, racing out to a 9-7 lead with six consecutive points.
Heading into the final minute of the quarter, it all came down to the “next point counts three” cards. El Peque played his on return and faulted, handing Rublo a 13-9 lead. The Russian followed up immediately with his own, and had the point all but won with a short ball on top of the net, before he butchered the opportunity by spraying the ball long.
With quarter point coming at 15-13, the quarter hung in the balance–particularly when El Peque won the first quarter point with a ripping forehand. At 14-13, Rublo showed his big match credentials, however, sealing the quarter to go up 1-0.
El Peque bounces straight back
In the second, it was Schwartzman who pushed out to an early lead, moving ahead 6-3 in the opening exchanges.
Rublo quickly drew back into the quarter, however, returning the score to 6-6. Again, it was jaw-dropping winners that helped Rublo gain ascendancy, blasting a forehand with scores level to nudge ahead in the quarter.
This time, the defining point of the quarter was an incredible 24-shot rally at 9-9. With Schwartzman’s card played, an enormous big baseline exchange ensued. El Peque finished off the rally with a brilliant winner, declaring after the quarter, “I felt a little bit weird making a winner after 20 shots.”
Getting himself up 12-9 with time almost up on the clock, it seemed the quarter was Schwartzman’s. More twists and turns remained though, as Rublo hit straight back with his own card, squaring up the quarter at 12-12 heading into quarter point.
The second quarter would finish the way the match began, however, with Rublo faulting to tie up the match at one quarter each.
It’s safe to say Rublo was less bubbly between quarters, with his only words being, “Disappointed…” and “I don’t know, what kind of question is this?” before the commentators wisely left him to his own devices.
High level match concludes in style
With his opportunity of winning to love and qualifying for the Final Four out the door, the anger from Rublo’s side was evident across the third quarter.
Points unfolded in similarly tight fashion, with neither player able to build a significant lead. Both cards were defended, with Rublo again butchering a shot on top of the net in horrific fashion. A meltdown ensued, with Rublev smashing his racquet on his leg multiple times, appearing to have lost the plot.
That is, until he won the next two points and closed out the quarter. Just like that, Rublo was ahead 2-1 after a quarter that felt like everything had gone against the Russian.
“I was lucky,” Rublev said between quarters, clearly unhappy with his performance.
“Too many mistakes in 15 seconds,” Schwartzman assured. “I think I deserved the win… But in the end, it’s the one who has the balls who wins.”
The Argentinian made up for his third quarter errors in the fourth quarter, however, powering past Rublo 16-10 to keep himself in the match and force sudden death.
“We are playing great tennis. He looks more upset than me, but we are playing great tennis. He’s going to be aggressive as always, I need to be solid,” declared El Peque, who had already won one sudden death today, the longest in UTS history.
Heading into his first ever sudden death at UTS, Rublo was a little less strategic in his planning, “No plan. When you play two points, which plan you have? It’s like when you go to casino, put it all on red. The plan, win two points in a row.”
The Russians gambling paid off however, as he capitalising on a plethora of errors from Schwartzman to win the match in a back and forth sudden death. Rublev now moves into the Final Four in London, despite having one game left to play on Saturday in Group A.
