Mentally I was feeling much better – Andrey Rublev after reaching the Madrid Open final

Andrey Rublev said he was mentally feeling much better after he defeated Taylor Fritz by 6-4, 6-3 on Friday in the semifinal of the Madrid Open. With this win, the Russian reached his fifth ATP 1000 Masters final.

Rublev came up with an impressive serve and forehand game to book his final berth. The 26-year-old wrapped up the game in 73 minutes and will look to continue the good show.

Rublev broke Fritz’s serve in the 10th game of the opening set to put himself in front. The Russian then broke the American’s serve in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead in the second set.

“Mentally I was feeling much better and I was able to perform,” said Rublev, when asked what had changed upon arriving in Madrid. “Putting emotions in the right direction. For sure it has helped me to reach the final. Without this, I would not be in the final.”

Meanwhile, Fritz got off to a fine start by breaking Rublev’s serve in the opening game but the latter was able to get back his serve in the next game.

“I started really tight. I missed a couple of returns, a couple of easy shots, but it is part of sport and part of tennis,” said Rublev. “When he broke me, I thought, ‘OK, it is only the beginning, we have a long set and we will see. Maybe he will also not start well on his serve’.

“In the end, I think in the first three points he didn’t hit a first serve, so I was able to win and it was 0/30. On one break point I played well, and somehow it was 1-1. Then the match was equal until the end of the set.”

Rublev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the summit clash on Sunday.