The finalists of the first edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals have been selected. For the second time this week Andrey Rublev will be dealing with Hyeon Chung on Saturday evening.
From Florian Heer from Milan
In the first of the two semi-finals on Friday, Rublev and Coric were confronted with two of the three ATP World Tour title holders represented in Milan. Thickly bandaged at the beginning of the match on both thighs, the Croat had finished the group stage without defeat as the first, but had to make up for a double setback in his last round robin match against Karen Khachanov and only left the field around midnight as the winner.
Coric was correspondingly tired in his appearance on the final lap. Rublev dominated almost at will, defended the only break point against him and turned two of his own chances. Only in the tie-break of the second set was it tight for the Russians when Coric threatened to divide at the beginning. Rublev quickly became champion again, however. 4-1,4-3 (6), 4-1 was the result after only 62 minutes of playing time.
“Today I was able to show my best tennis of the week so far,”said Rublev with satisfaction,”I hope to be able to improve in the final. Now it’s time to stay focused. I’ll keep trying to dictate the rallies with my forehand.”
After his dream run to win the premiere title in July in Umag, where he started as Lucky Loser in the main draw, the Russian youngster will now try to grab his second ATP trophy against Hyeon Chung.
The world rankings 54. from Korea controlled the second semi-final against Daniil Medvedev at the beginning, which left a tired and unconcentrated impression. So the first two sets went quite unspectacularly to Chung.
“Play with the audience. Draw energy from it! Everyone here is behind you”, Medvedev’s coach tried to shake his protégé awake again. And with success. The 21-year-old Russian took the third set.
But Chung showed no signs of disappointment and found his rhythm again. The Korean youngster, who had already proved his skills at the ATP tournament in Munich and entered the semi-finals there, managed to break at the beginning of the fourth set. Medvedev, however, showed his qualities as a fighter, ironed out the loss of serve, went into the fourth game with a break and finally sent the match into the final showdown.
Just at the time when the momentum seemed to turn towards the Russian, Chung played big again and broke Medvedev’s serve at the beginning of the fifth movement. He also defended four break points in the third game and won 4-1,4-1,4-1,3-4 (4), 1-4,4-0 after one hour and 51 minutes of play.
“It was incredibly difficult today. We met for the first time and I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Daniil served extremely well but my returns worked well tonight,”Chung was visibly satisfied.
Chung would not have thought about winning the title after his semi-final victory, however,”Now it’s almost midnight and I’ll get some sleep first. Then I look forward to the last day.”
However, the conditions for a triumph are not the worst. Chung won the two previous matches against Rublev. Their last encounter was only four days ago, when the Korean defeated the native Muscovite in two sets in the first game of the group stage.
Even though there are no ATP World Ranking Points for the champion, it’s still a cheque for $225,000. Chung could also get a bonus of $25,000. He is the only one to have not lost a match in Milan so far.