Mubadala World Tennis Championship: Stefanos Tsitsipas comfortably beats Andrey Rublev in Abu Dhabi
The Mubadala World Tennis Championship finally began yesterday after weeks of anticipation, amid unfortunate news that Gael Monfils and Daniil Medvedev had to withdraw from the exhibition tournament through injury.
Andrey Rublev was the replacement for the Frenchman but his stay in Abu Dhabi was cut short by a domineering display by NextGen star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated the Russian in straight sets.
The Mubadala World Tennis Championship is a non-ATP exhibition event which is held at the end of each year. Though it does not offer any ranking points to the players, it is seen as a perfect warm-up for the next season.
It has boasted some of tennis's best players over the last decade, including Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who are both due to feature in this year's competition.
Rublev reflected on his loss to Tsitsipas in a positive manner. "This game is amazing preparation for the season and we both played seriously. When you play the first real matches of your pre-season against top players it gives you the confidence to take into a major tournament. To play well and find the rhythm of playing matches gives you a lot," he said.
Rublev was put on the back foot from his very first service game as a ruthless Tsitsipas broke him at the first time of asking to race to a 2-0 lead. The Greek was solid on serve, rarely being troubled by Rublev, and eventually took the first set 6-3.
The Russian was able to regroup in the second set and started it a lot better than he did the previous one. However, he was unable to penetrate Tsitsipas' seemingly indomitable serve.
To make matters worse, the Greek broke the Russian's serve in the middle of the second set, going on to win it 6-4 and subsequently the match.
Tsitsipas will now face Djokovic in a hotly anticipated semi-final fixture, whilst Nadal is due to face NextGen star Khachanov in a battle of generations.