On Thursday, October 17, the second round matches of the ATP-250 tournament in Stockholm ended. Today the seventh racket in the world, Andrei Rublev, number one seed, entered the fight. His opponent was the French tennis player Alexandre Muller, who closes the top 70 in the world ranking. Rublev bowed out in the first round and Müller beat Leo Borg (WC), the son of the legendary Bjorn Borg, 6:3, 7:6 (7:5).
Initially, Rublev was not planning to play in Stockholm. However, a disastrous performance at the Shanghai Masters, where Andrei lost to Yakub Menshik in the first match, seriously worsened the Russian’s position in the race for the ATP Championship. And so Rublev urgently flew to the capital of Sweden, where he was given the first seed. Regarding the position in the race for the Final Tournament, Andrei is in eighth place, that is, he is one step away from being left out of Turin.
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Therefore, Müller had to be defeated. Although initially the task did not seem easy, despite the large gap in the grade. For the first time, Rublev played with the Frenchman at the Rome Masters this year, and then Alexander won a resounding victory over Andrei – 3:6, 6:3, 6:2. So this time the Russian had the opportunity to avenge that defeat.
Rublev immediately began to justify his status as the favorite. The Russian played well in his matches, despite the rather low first serve percentage (55%), and Müller simply seemed weak on the return. Andrey tried to play actively during the reception and use his forehand more often, and in the fifth game he managed to break. Rublev came close to the second break, but he didn’t take advantage of two break points, so he almost had trouble. Serving at 5:4, Andrei gave his opponent a double break point, but then he acted with precision and closed the game with the second set point: 6:4 in 39 minutes.
In the second set, Müller offered almost no resistance to Rublev. The Russian was very good both in the service and in the return. Andrey had the opportunity to end the game with a “ruffle”, but he did not take advantage of the break point in the fifth game. Only once did a slippery moment arise, in the fourth game, when Rublev fended off a break point. And in the seventh game he served for the match: 6:4, 6:1 in 1 hour and 5 minutes.
In the quarterfinals, Rublev will face three-time TBS champion Stan Wawrinka; The Swiss will turn 40 next year.
In the exhibition tournament called Six Kings Slam, which is held in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), the semifinals were played. Russian Daniil Medvedev lost to Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals and the Italian faced Novak Djokovic. And Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Holger Rune, played a match with his compatriot Rafael Nadal, who had already announced that he would retire after the Davis Cup playoffs.
Sinner and Djokovic appeared on the court first. It’s worth noting that organizers heard discontent on social media about the location of the main camera and moved it lower and closer; Here’s how (above is a screenshot of yesterday’s Medvedev-Sinner match, below is a screenshot of today’s Sinner-Djokovic match):
Camera Level Comparison
Photo: Screenshot of the broadcast.
In the first set, Sinner dominated Djokovic in every way, just as Medvedev did in the quarterfinals. The Serb was never close to a break point, and the Italian broke him twice, in the second game and the eighth. And he won the match, which lasted only 27 minutes, 6-2.
In the second set everything changed. Novak improved, but Yannick, on the other hand, lost his serve (only 51% of first shots and five double faults per match). In the first game, Djokovic achieved a break which, however, he did not maintain; In the fourth game, Sinner restored equality. After this, the tennis players reached the tiebreaker without break points, although Yannick was two points away from victory: Novak, serving at 4:5, started with 0:30.
In the tiebreaker, Djokovic did not give a single point to Sinner: 7-6 (7-0) in 59 minutes. And immediately afterward he requested a medical leave due to shoulder discomfort.
Novak Djokovic’s medical break
Photo: Screenshot of the broadcast.
But the Italian also had problems. At times he limped and held his stomach. At the beginning of the decisive game, the opponents made a break, and the most interesting thing was the 12-minute fifth game, in which Djokovic escaped four break points. In the next game, Novak had a real chance to take a break lead, but missed a double break point (3-3). Another exchange of breaks followed, and in the ninth game Yannick took his opponent’s serve for the third time in the set, after which he served for the match – 6:2, 6:7 (0:7), 6 : 4 in 2 hours 27 minutes.
“Not many days ago we played the final in Shanghai. They were both a little tired and made some mistakes. We all love to play here. Thanks to everyone who came. This is the reason we are here.
Maybe from the outside it seemed like I didn’t panic during the game. But inside… It’s normal. Things can change quickly in a game. I had a couple overheads, but he made some really good shots. I tried to get back into the rhythm of the game as quickly as possible. I’m happy with how I played this match.
Let’s see what happens on Saturday. I hope it turns out well. That’s why we’re all here. We are all trying to improve our level, trying to recover each point in the best possible way. We take this very seriously. We’re just trying to improve our game. Even for the next meetings. “We all know each other well,” Sinner said in an on-court interview.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic at the Six Kings Slam
Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Then it was the turn of Alcaraz and Nadal. Carlos, of course, was the clear favorite. And at first it was not clear what Raphael could oppose him. Nadal got his first points only in the third game. The veteran finally turned on and started to pick up his game, but his 21-year-old compatriot, already leading by a break, did the same. And in the ninth game, Alcaraz, who for obvious reasons was superior to Nadal in movement, won the match again 6:3 in 42 minutes.
In the second set, Nadal also offered no real resistance to Alcaraz, despite the good result. The stands often chanted “Rafa, Rafa!”, but the legendary tennis player never reached break points, although he pleased the crowd several times with big winners. Carlos won the match thanks to the only break in the fourth game. In the ninth game, Alcaraz served for the match: 6:3, 6:3 in 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Thus, Djokovic and Nadal will play the match for third place in the Six Kings Slam (for the umpteenth time!), and Sinner and Alcaraz will play the final. The decisive match will take place on Saturday, October 19, and the Stockholm tournament will end on October 20. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
