Red-Hot Rublev Cruises Past Fognini In Belgrade

Andrey Rublev produced another scintillating performance at the Serbia Open on Saturday to ease past Fabio Fognini and set a blockbuster final with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the ATP 250 event in Belgrade.

The World No. 8 had produced an exhibition of fierce baseline hitting in his quarter-final clash with Taro Daniel on Friday and Rublev fired a similar streak of brutal forehand winners on his way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Fognini at the Novak Tennis Center.

Rublev suffered a tough three-set defeat to Jannik Sinner in the third round at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters but has bounced back in style in Serbia. He battled through a three-set clash with Jiri Lehecka in his opening match but there were no such problems against Fognini in Saturday’s semi-final as Rublev showed once again how big a threat he poses on the clay in a quickfire 62-minute win.

Rublev had Fognini under pressure early but the Italian recovered 0/40 to hold serve in the opening game of the match. There was nothing Fognini could do to stop Rublev reeling off the next five games, however, as the second seed struck the ball with power and precision on his way to the first set.

Fognini struggled for fluency in his second tour-level semi-final of the year, but he was given scant room to express himself by his opponent. The Italian battled hard to carve out his only three break point opportunities of the match as Rublev served for it at 5-2 in the second set, but the second seed repelled the threat before clinching victory after Fognini fired a backhand wide.

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Rublev was relentless on serve throughout. He fired five aces and dropped just nine points on serve in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The 10-time tour-level titlist will need to produce a similar display against Djokovic, one of the all-time great returners on the ATP Tour.

The victory brings Rublev level with Fognini at 5-5 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. Rublev has now triumphed in the pair’s past four meetings.

Rublev chases a third tour-level title of the season in Sunday’s championship match, having captured trophies in Marseille and Dubai in February. It will be the second ATP Head2Head meeting between Djokovic and Rublev, after Djokovic ran out a 6-3, 6-2 winner at the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals in November.