Daniil Medvedev defeated defending champion Andrey Rublev in the final of the Dubai Duty Free tennis tournament to claim his third title in a row.
Former world No. 1 Medvedev briefly fell out of the top 10 after an early loss at the Australian Open that ended a difficult 12 months, but he has since responded superbly.
The Russian has won ATP Tour titles in Rotterdam and Doha over the past two weeks and, after finishing Novak Djokovic’s unbeaten start to the season in the semi-finals in Dubai, scored a 6-2 6-2 victory over friend and compatriot Rublev.
After losing his first four pro meetings to his former junior rival, Rublev hit back with two straight victories.
But Medvedev beat him at the peak of his game: the 27-year-old hit a batting serve in the first game of the match and gradually went on to win after an hour and eight minutes.
Medvedev, who will head to Indian Wells next week on a 14-game winning streak, said in an on-field interview broadcast by Amazon Prime Video: “It’s surprising because the start of the year hasn’t been perfect.
“In tennis, when you don’t win tournaments, you always have doubts, no matter what happens in training, so I had a lot of doubts, and now it’s easier for me. I am very satisfied with these three weeks and look forward to the next.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
