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Fifth seed Andrey Rublev of Russia beat 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6(7), 6-3 in the semifinal of the Shanghai Masters on Saturday, October 14. The match lasted for a little less than two hours, as the 25-year-old Russian coasted to a win after a tough fight in the first set.
Rublev will face Hubert Hurkacz in the final on Sunday (October 15). One of them is assured of a chance to win his second Masters 1000 title on the day.
Rublev is playing well but might find Hurkacz's serve too hot to handle. However, the Russian's forehand will give him a solid chance of pulling it off.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match between Rublev and Dimitrov:
#1. Andrey Rublev targeted Grigor Dimitrov's backhand
Rublev directed a lot of traffic towards Dimitrov's backhand from the very beginning. The Russian’s inside-out forehand and crosscourt backhand kept testing the 32-year-old Bulgarian's backhand.
Dimitrov mostly responded with crosscourt slices off his backhand, but whenever his slices landed short, Rublev pounced on the ball with his powerful forehand.
In order to shake things up and break the pattern, Dimitrov tried playing the slices down the line and also hit his backhand with more power at times. The baseline slugfest thus continued throughout the first set, with the two players matching each other stroke for stroke.
Rublev broke him in the 11th game of the first set to go 6-5 up, but Dimitrov then broke back in the subsequent game.
The topsy-turvy battle continued in the tie-break, too, with Andrey Rublev taking an early 2-0 lead and then Dimitrov leveling the score at 2-2. However, the Russian finally won the tie-break 9-7 to draw first blood and take a crucial 1-0 lead in the match.
#2. Andrey Rublev's serve helped him dominate
Andrey Rublev served much better than his Bulgarian opponent on the day, hitting nine aces against Dimitrov's none in the match. The Russian won 71% of the points on his first serve, while Dimitrov could win 63% on his. It was not a big difference, but significant enough for Rublev to seal the deal.
Rublev got the decisive break in the second set to win it and finish the match off. He was also more clinical, converting three of the four break point opportunities that came his way, while Dimitrov could convert only two out of six.
