Rublev outlasts Djokovic for Serbia Open title
Andrey Rublev defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 to win the Serbia Open in Belgrade for his third title of the season on Sunday.
The second-seeded Russian player dug deep to stop Djokovic from mounting another comeback as he prevented the topranked Serb from claiming his first title of 2022.
Rublev, 24, looked fitter in their third set as he closed out the win in 2 hours, 24 minutes.
Djokovic, who is 10 years older than Rublev, appeared affected by the effort he put in to level the match in the second-set tiebreaker.
Djokovic had already came back from a set down in each of his three matches at his hometown tournament, defeating Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic and Karen Khachanov on his way to the final in what were only his fifth, sixth and seventh matches of the year.
• Exactly 17 years ago, an 18-year-old Rafael Nadal was starting to attract the attention of the tennis world by winning the Barcelona Open and making it to the top 10 for the first time.
Carlos Alcaraz followed in the footsteps of his hero, also winning his first Barcelona title and cracking the top 10 men’s rankings for the first time at the same age.
Alcaraz continued his impressive run by beating Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets for his third title of the season, winning the all-Spanish match 6-3, 6-2 after having made it to the final a few hours earlier in a semifinal game postponed from Saturday because of rain.
“It means a lot,” Alcaraz said. “I’ve watched this tournament since I was a kid. I always wished to play in this tournament and of course to be able to win this tournament. I’m really, really happy to be part of the Spanish history list.”
Alcaraz was guaranteed to move into the top 10 after reaching the semifinals. He will be No. 9 when the new rankings come out on today, making him the youngest player in the top 10 since Nadal made it after lifting his first Barcelona trophy in 2005.
Like Nadal then, Alcaraz came into the tournament as the 11thranked player in the world. A record 21-time Grand Slam winner, Nadal never dropped out of the top 10 since then.
The victory at the Rafa Nadal center court in Barcelona capped a long day for Alcaraz, who needed 3 hours, 39 minutes to rally past Alex de Minaur 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in their semifinal match in the morning.
Carreno Busta, 30, ranked 19th and seeking his seventh title on tour, beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 39 minutes in his semifinal Sunday.
• Top-ranked Iga Swiatek defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Stuttgart Open in Germany for her fourth title of the year.
The Polish player stretched her winning run to 23 matches by beating last year’s finalist in her own tournament debut in 1 hour 24 minutes. Swiatek has won her last seven finals in straight sets.
Swiatek previously won in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami.