Russian battles to beat wildcard
World No.5 Andrey Rublev overcame a fierce examination from Chinese wildcard “Jerry” Shang Juncheng on Saturday to reach the Hong Kong Open final.
Rublev kept his Australian Open preparations on track and ended the fairytale run of the 18-year-old Shang, who was in his first ATP Tour semifinal, with a 4-6 6-2 6-3 battling victory in 2hr 9min of pulsating tennis at Victoria Park.
In Sunday’s final the Russian top seed was to face Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who beat
Austria’s world No.43 Sebastian Ofner 4-6 7-5 6-3.
The dynamic world No.183 Shang has been playing nerveless tennis to beat older and higher-ranked opponents all week.
After accounting for world No.16 Frances Tiafoe in a career-best straight-sets win in the quarter-final on Friday, Shang was brimming with confidence.
He flew out of the blocks to break the 26-year-old Rublev in the opening game. Rublev became frustrated as he was unable to convert any of his three break points during the opening set, which Shang sealed emphatically with an ace after 43 minutes.
The combustible Russian, who drew blood when he smashed his racquet into his left knee in anger, faced two more break points in the opening game of both the second set and third sets.
But this time on each occasion he held firm and eventually wore down his plucky opponent.
“He was playing unbelievable,” said Rublev of Shang, who has thrilled capacity crowds in the southern Chinese city.
The third set could have gone either way until Rublev finally broke Shang to lead 5-3.