MONACO: Stefanos Tsitsipas crushed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 in a one-sided final in Monte Carlo Open for his first Masters 1000 title on Sunday.
The 22-year-old took one hour and 11 minutes to beat the Russian for the best victory in his career following his triumph in the 2019 Masters.
“I’m overwhelmed with emotion,” said Tsitsipas. “It’s the best win of my life so far.”
“It is the best thing winning my first Masters 1000 and it is even more special doing it here on home soil in Monte-Carlo and doing it on clay, which is my favourite surface.”
“I knew that he was going to be a very difficult opponent to face. There were a lot of nerves coming into that match,” he added, noting that he and Rublev were old foes who “always want to bring the best out of each other.”
The Greek’s victory in their seventh meeting gave him a 4-3 advantage in their head-to-head meetings.
“I’m proud of the way I handled myself on the court,” added the world No. 5.
Tsitsipas now has six titles on the ATP Tour, including the year-end Masters in 2019 and four ATP 250 tournaments (Stockholm 2018, Marseille and Estoril 2019, Marseille 2020).
