Andrey Rublev wins the Vienna Open and his 5th title of the year

Andrey Rublev beats Lorenzo Sonego in straights sets on Sunday to win the Vienna Open in Austria

Andrey Rublev wins the Vienna Open

The world number eight won 6-4, 6-4 to take home his 5th ATP title in 2020. The 23-year-old has now won 19 out of 20 of his last matches and continues to progress at the top level. Sonego, world ranked 32nd, couldn’t match his opponent and will be disappointed to go home empty handed.

The Italian tennis player has had an impressive tournament to reach the finals. Most notably he knocked out the favourite, Novak Djokovic, in the quarter finals.

The winner of the ATP tournament, Rublev, had beaten world number three Dominic Thiem to reach the finals. Top players like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Djokovic all crashed out of the competition, paving the way for the Russian to take the trophy.

In his first final at the Vienna Open, he managed to beat Sonego within one hour and 20 minutes. Rublev has now secured his placed at the season-ending ATP finals for the first time. The competition will be held at the 02 arena in London this month. He has also now won three of his last four tournaments as well as increasing his record to 7-2 in finals appearances.

“I’m happy that I will compete in London for the first time. I’m really looking forward [to it],” Rublev said.

“There are still so many things I need to improve and it’s going to be a good challenge for me to see what exactly I need to improve to be at that level, to be able to compete against the top eight players.”

Can't. Stop. Winning. ?

?? @AndreyRublev97 wins an ATP Tour-best fifth title in 2020 at the @ErsteBankOpen, defeating Sonego 6-4, 6-4! pic.twitter.com/5hzp0h3Grh

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 1, 2020

What happened in the match?

With the Vienna Open hosting best of three sets, Andrey Rublev didn’t drop one during the whole tournament. With a hard surface, the 23-year-old dominated on the court and left Sonego disheartened by the end of the match.

Rublev continued where he left off from the semi-final and was performing well from the offset. Sonego also competed well as he took an early lead against his opponent before Rublev regained control.

A handful of powerful groundstrokes from the Russian helped him secure some vital breakpoints in the first set. With strong serving from Rublev on top of this, he managed to extend his lead and win the first set 6-4.

A driven Sonego continued to fight to try and not lose in straight sets, and began to pick up his game. The Italian went 4-3 up in the second set at one point. Rublev however would not let him lead for long. Serving with ferociousness and venom and delivering strong forehand shots made it impossible for Sonego to get a foothold in the match.

As his opponent was holding on by a thread, Rublev proved too good in the end. He eventually found the breakthrough when he broke his competitor’s serve to go 5-4 up. After a shot was hit too long by Sonego, the second set concluded at 6-4. An exuberant Andrey Rublev won his 5th title of the year and equaled the most games won in 2020 (39) with Novak Djokovic.

Sonego said after the match: “I think his mentality [that is most impressive]. It’s really hard [to play against him]. He plays all the points and he wants to win every match.

“This is his fifth final in one year. This is amazing. For me, it’s only the first.” Sonego said.

Thank you Vienna ???? #atp500 #7 pic.twitter.com/bujonsDDwM

— Andrey Rublev (@AndreyRublev97) November 1, 2020

What’s next?

Andrey Rublev is not involved in the next tournament that started Monday, the Paris Masters. However, fellow finalist Lorenzo Sonego just beat Alexander Bublik in the Round of 64 to qualify into the next round. The masters will also see Rafael Nadal, who won his record-equaling 20th grand slam last month, back on French soil.

As 2020 draws to a close the ATP finals will cap off an historic year, beginning on the 15th November. After winning the Vienna Open, Rublev will play in his first ATP finals tournament in a bid to challenge amongst the greatest tennis players in the world.

All the top ranked tennis players like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will compete to gain their status as the best player in tennis presently.

Amongst the coronavirus pandemic, the usual structured regime of tennis has been thrown out of the window. Nevertheless fans have been brought heaps of entertainment throughout the year. There is plenty yet to come and tennis fans will undoubtedly see a blockbuster finale to 2020.

We hope you enjoyed this article ‘Andrey Rublev wins the Vienna Open and his 5th title of the year’. After Andrey Rublev wins the Vienna Open, who do you think will win the ATP finals this month? Let us know!

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