Rublev won the Serbia Open on Sunday for his third title of the season.
The second-seeded Russian player was the one who stopped the top-ranked Serb from winning the title.
At his hometown tournament, where he had already come back from a set down in each of his three matches, he had defeated Laslo Djere, Karen Khachanov, and Miomir Kecmanovic on his way to the final in what were only his fifth, sixth and seventh matches
The 20-time Grand Slam champion opened his clay-court season with a surprising loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Monte Carlo Masters the previous week, his first match since being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships in February.
He was barred from playing at the Australian Open because of his unvaccinated status, which prevented him from playing tournaments in the United States last month.
Rublev equaled the mark of three tour-level titles held by Nadal after winning in Marseille and Dubai in February.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
