Rublev stretched to three sets to beat Medvedev

Andrey Rublev squandered seven set points early in his meeting with fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev before roaring back to seal a 6-7(7) 6-3 7-6(7) opening victory at the ATP Finals in Turin on Monday.Rublev said his sixth career meeting with Medvedev reminded him of his encounter with the world number five at the 2020 US Open quarter-finals, where he lost in straight sets, and the 25-year-old was determined to overcome his poor start.But having shaken off the disappointment of squandering several chances to take the opening set, Rublev hit back with 25 winners in the next two and held his nerve in the deciding tie-break to seal the victory on his fifth match point. “I was thinking about the US Open, because when we played in the quarter-finals in 2020, I think I was 5-1 in a tie-break, also something like 6-2, but I was leading something similar in a tie-break,” Rublev said.“But when I lost that set, I couldn’t play anymore, and I was thinking it can’t happen (again) I have to change something. I have to keep playing, because if I win one set, even if I lose in three sets, it’s still good, because here you have a group.“So you have to fight for every point, every game, and I was able to win. The final tie-break, the rallies that we had there were crazy. The last rally, we had I don’t know, 30 shots.” Rublev said he was cramping towards the end of the contest before winning with a 37-shot rally on match-point, after which he dropped to the floor in delight. “I was thinking ‘one more, one more. You have to keep playing’,” Rublev, who also beat Medvedev in the Cincinnati semi-finals last year, said.“For sure, he felt the same, ‘so just keep playing if you have the chance, go for it’. In the end I was able to win.”Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic face off in the other Red Group match.Nadal falls to Fritz in ATP Finals openerRafael Nadal suffered a disastrous start to his bid to win the ATP Finals for the first time after crashing to a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 defeat to Taylor Fritz on Sunday.The year-ending Finals is the only major trophy missing from Tennis icon Nadal’s list of honours but his straight-sets loss means he will struggle to escape the round-robin stage.The 36-year-old realistically needs to win both his remaining matches against Green Group opponents Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Alissime if he is to make the semi-finals. Fritz is at the Finals for the first time in his career after replacing injured world number one Carlos Alcaraz and gave Nadal a torrid time with some aggressive tennis.“I did a good job, protecting my serve, holding my serve and I did very well in tie-breaker,” said Fritz on court. “Once I got through that I just wanted to do the same thing I was doing in the second set, protecting my serve and capitalise on break points when I got them.” Ruud was also a straight-sets winner over Auger-Alissime, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, in the day’s other singles contest. the Norwegian sits behind Fritz in the standings with the top two from each group progressing to the semis.The world number four came through an uninspiring encounter in one hour and 51 minutes after claiming his one and only chance to break Canadian Auger-Alissime’s serve in game seven of the second set. This season’s Roland Garros and US Open finalist then served out the rest of the set to claim the win.