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Andrey Rublev celebrated his maiden ATP Masters 1000 victory with F1 stars Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc and Leclerc's younger brother Arthur.
Rublev defeated Holger Rune in the Monte-Carlo Masters final to claim his first title of the 2023 season. The Dane won the opening set 7-5 before Rubev mounted a strong comeback to win the second 6-2 and force a decider. Rune led 4-1 in the third set and was a single point away from a commanding 5-1 lead when the Russian fought back hard to claim the set 7-5 and win the biggest title of his career so far.
Charles Leclerc, who is a citizen of Monaco and drives for Ferrari, and Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who drives for Alpine, took in the action at the final in Monte-Carlo during their summer break from the F1 schedule.
Following Andrey Rublev's victory, Gasly and the two Leclerc brothers posed with the 25-year-old and his newly won Monte-Carlo Masters trophy.
The ATP Tour social media handle also shared a video of the group interacting with each other. A tennis fan shared the clip to Twitter and highlighted Rublev's appreciation for Leclerc, which they felt was evident in the video.
"Someone told me Andrey is a huge Charles fan and you can clearly see it from this video," the fan tweeted.
Charles Leclerc also shared pictures of his experience at the Monte-Carlo Masters final on Instagram.
"This was a fun day," Leclerc captioned the post.
I am just happy, finally after struggling so much to win this freaking Masters 1000 tournament: Andrey Rublev
Andrey Rublev was overcome with emotion as he secured his first Masters 1000 title victory at the third time of asking. The World No. 6 previously reached the Monte-Carlo Masters and Cincinnati Masters finals in 2021.
In the post-match interview, Rublev found himself at a loss for words but stated that he was happy to have won his maiden Masters title after falling short on prior occasions.
"I have tears," Rublev said. "I don't know what to say to be honest. I don't know. I am just happy, finally. [I have] been struggling so much to win this freaking Masters 1000 tournament. Finally losing 4-1, Love-30, saving break points, thinking there is no chance to win, and somehow I did it."
Andrey Rublev will compete at the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid Open next, which is scheduled to begin on April 25.
