Andrey Rublev battled past Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in 2 hours and 23 minutes in the semifinal of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Rublev had already rallied from a set down to beat Soonwoo Kwon and Mackenzie McDonald earlier this week.
Hurkacz earned the only break of the opening set in the second game of the match. He fired ten aces and dropped just three first serve points.
Rublev earned a break point at 30-40 in the fourth game of the second set, but Hurkacz saved it to hold serve with three consecutive serves. Rublev earned the decisive break with a forehand winner in the 12th game to level the match.
Hurkacz fended off four break points in the fourth game of the third set. Both players went on serve in the next games en route to the tie-break. Rublev earned the only mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5.
The Russian player has reached the first final of his career in Dubai and his second title match of the 2022 season after winning the trophy in Marseille earlier this week.
“I am feeling super happy and super tired. I could not imagine that it would happen this week again, that I would be in a final, and I am just happy. I could not imagine how Stefanos Tsitsipas did it twice, because two years in a row he won the title in Marseille and reached the final in Dubai. I was thinking that was was impossible to do, and somehow I did it this year. I still don’t know even myself how I did it, so let’s see what happens now”, said Rublev.
