Tsitsipas, Rublev in final at Monte Carlo
MONACO – Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas swatted aside unseeded Dan Evans 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final for the first time and stay on course for a first title this year.
The big-serving Greek’s opponent will be sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev, who beat unseeded Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-5. Rublev aims for his second title of the year, his first at Masters level and ninth overall in his career.
They are level at 3-3 heading into their seventh meeting, including 1-1 on clay. Tsitsipas beat him in the quarterfinals at last year’s French Open, and is the fresher player for Sunday’s final.
“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling energized. I still have plenty of gas and energy left in me,” Tsitsipas said. “I was able to have all of my matches done in two sets, so that is a big plus. I’m really focused for tomorrow.”
Evans beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the third round. But he failed to threaten Tsitsipas in the same way and the match quickly slid away when he was serving at 3-2 down.
Tsitsipas broke his serve five times and remains on track for a sixth career title. “I am pleased with the performance. It was really difficult to maintain my level of consistency and I am really happy I managed to deal with all the different moments,” Tsitsipas said. “I had a lot of opportunities to hit the forehand, and think how I wanted to construct the point.”
He won his last title in February last year at the Open 13 indoor tournament in Marseille – just weeks before France went into lockdown for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Monte Carlo was canceled last year because of the pandemic.
The 23-year-old Rublev produced an audacious display to defeat record 11time champion Rafael Nadal on Friday, and further confirm why he is one of the rising stars of tennis.
The 22-year-old Ruud also beat a former champion by knocking out 2019 winner Fabio Fognini.
But after breaking Rublev to love to lead 2-1 he then lost four straight games before finally holding in the eighth game to stop the Russian’s momentum.