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Third seed claims sixth ATP Tour crown

Andrey Rublev added another chapter to his 2020 success story on Sunday, overcoming Borna Coric 7-6(5), 6-4 to win the St. Petersburg Open, lifting his fourth ATP Tour trophy of the year.

The Russian won 80 per cent of his service points (49/61) in a dominant one-hour, 39-minute serving performance. Rublev extended his winning streak to 10 matches on home soil, having lifted the VTB Kremlin Cup trophy in Moscow last year.

The 22-year-old became the fifth Russian player to capture the St. Petersburg crown, following in the footsteps of Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1995), Marat Safin (2000-’01), Mikhail Youzhny (2004) and Daniil Medvedev (2019).

With his fourth ATP Head2Head win against Coric (4-0), Rublev increased his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The six-time tour-level champion adds 500 points to his FedEx ATP Battle For London total and is now in pole position to become the seventh man to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

The Russian is 249 points ahead of ninth-placed Diego Schwartzman, who occupies the final qualification position, and 354 points clear of 10th-placed Matteo Berrettini. Berrettini will drop 200 points from his total on 9 November due to his round-robin win at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.

FedEx ATP Battle For London

Ranking Player Points
8 Andrey Rublev 3,429
9 Diego Schwartzman 3,180
10 Matteo Berrettini 3,075
11 Gael Monfils 2,860
12 Denis Shapovalov 2,830
Rublev has found consistent success in 2020. The World No. 10 opened the season by becoming the first man since Dominik Hrbaty in 2004 to win consecutive trophies in the first two weeks of the year (Doha, Adelaide). Since the return of the ATP Tour, Rublev has compiled a 19-4 record and clinched ATP 500 crowns in Hamburg and St. Petersburg.

Rublev is now level with fellow four-time 2020 titlist Novak Djokovic atop of the 2020 ATP Tour trophies leaderboard. The 6’2” right-hander is also in second place on the ATP Tour wins list this year with a 34-7 mark, trailing leader Djokovic by only three wins (37-2).

Coric was attempting to lift his first ATP Tour trophy since the 2018 NOVENTI OPEN in Halle. The Croatian finished as runner-up in St. Petersburg for the second straight year after falling to Medvedev in last year’s final.

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In a set that featured just one break point, Rublev rallied from 2/5 down in the tie-break to snatch the first set. The Russian covered his baseline well and focussed his attack on Coric’s forehand to extract six errors and move one set from the title.

Rublev switched his focus to Coric’s backhand to earn the first break of the match and continued to dominate his service games to maintain his advantage. The Moscow native, who did not face a break point throughout the championship match, charged to the net to claim the title with a forehand drive volley.

Russian reflects after his St. Petersburg Open victory
After Andrey Rublev won his fourth title of the season on Sunday at the St. Petersburg Open, the Russian spoke about how he wants to continue improving. The 22-year-old, who turns 23 on Tuesday, knows there are always parts of his game he can enhance.

The Russian has been motivated by Rafael Nadal, who one week ago won his 13th Roland Garros title.

“I cannot imagine how — I’m not even talking about [just at] the Grand Slams — it is possible what he is doing,” Rublev said. “To be mentally that strong all your life and all your career, I don’t know how it is possible.”


Rublev is in awe of Nadal’s focus and discipline. The Spaniard had plenty going against him in Paris, from difficult conditions — it was cool and wet throughout the fortnight — to tough opponents, led by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who entered their championship clash with a 37-1 record on the year. Nadal still captured the Coupe des Mousquetaires without losing a set.

“Every player, even Roger [Federer] or even Novak [Djokovic], they had one moment in their career when they were mentally a little bit down or they could get a little bit emotionally down during the match and, if something happens, they could lose or something,” Rublev said. “Rafa is the only one player in history that it doesn’t matter how he feels, bad or good. In the end he always finds a way to win.

"If he is not winning, he is losing in three sets after three hours if it is not [at] a Grand Slam. If it is [at] a Grand Slam, it is going to be five hours and [against] the players that are really good… I don’t know how it is possible to be this strong mentally during all his career.”

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Something Rublev has learned from following Nadal is how important it is to push through bad days and find a way to win.

“Even if you take other sportsmen or athletes, they can have bad days. But because maybe the team is good, they are still winning,” Rublev said. “In tennis, if you are having a really bad day… it is really tough to find a way [to win] and compete like nothing happened. He has done this during all his career. For me he is the best athlete, not even in tennis, the best athlete in history.”

Rublev is having the best season of his career, climbing to a career-high No. 8 in the FedEx ATP Rankings thanks to his triumph in St. Petersburg. The Russian has won four tour-level titles this season, matched only by Djokovic, who also has four. No other player has more than two.

But even though he is flying higher than ever, Rublev will continue pushing for more.