Rublev: ’Today Was Not My Day’
Andrey Rublev suffered a tough loss on Friday evening against Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau, but the Russian star looked at the positives of his run rather than dwelling on his defeat.
“It’s [been a] great week for me. I did my first semis [at an ATP Masters 1000]. I’m playing really consistent. Every week I go deep in the tournament,” Rublev said. “Today was not my day. Hurkacz played really well and he deserved to win. That’s it. Not much to say more. Now it’s time to go back to work hard to be ready for the clay season.”
The World No. 8 has been one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour, leading all players with 20 tour-level victories. But entering the week, he had only made one ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
That’s why it looked like destiny was aligning for the 23-year-old when he bludgeoned his way to the semi-finals and was the only Top 10 player remaining. But Hurkacz broke Rublev’s serve immediately, and the Russian was never able to find his aggressive best.
“It’s just maybe I couldn’t handle a bit [of] pressure that well and he was playing quite well,” Rublev admitted. “That’s it.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]The fourth seed battled hard until the end, earning three break points as the Polish No. 1 served for the match. But he was never able to get into his typically dominant position in any of those rallies.
“I still was close. I almost come back, but it was not enough. I was not playing that aggressive like normally I’m playing. I was a bit more defensive,” Rublev said. “I didn’t probably handle pressure, emotions well, and that was the key.”
Rublev only pointed the blame at himself. Although the eight-time ATP Tour champion was unable to reach his first Masters 1000 final, he gave all the credit to Hurkacz, who accomplished that same feat. The Pole will play Jannik Sinner for the title.
“He was better today, and that’s why he deserved to win,” Rublev said. “Simple.”