‘I feel happy with the week, and I feel super sad with the final,’ says Andrey Rublev after Monte-Carlo defeat

Andrey Rublev masked up

There were a lot of mixed emotions for Andrey Rublev after he suffered a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Monte-Carlo Masters final.

Having reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final on the back of a quarter-final win over clay master Rafael Nadal and a semi-final defeat of Casper Ruud, the Russian came up short in the showpiece match.

He never really got going against Tsitsipas on Sunday as the Greek eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win in one hour and 11 minutes, converting all three break points and not giving his opponent a look in on his own serve.

Losing the final was a tough pill to swallow, but Rublev was pleased with his “special week” in Monte-Carlo.

“He was just better than me,” the world No 7 told ATP Tour.

He continued: “I feel happy with the week, and I feel super sad with the final, that I couldn’t show the game [I have]. I couldn’t show fight.

“I didn’t win, but of course I’m happy with the week because I beat so many great players. I beat one of the best players in history. It’s a special week.”

Sunday’s final was Rublev and Tsitsipas’ seventh clash at ATP Tour level and most of them came in notable events as they have met twice in finals, twice at Grand Slams and at the ATP Finals.

The Greek edged ahead 4-3 with his latest win.

“He’s the one from the top players that I [have been] playing the most,” Rublev. “We played already [a] couple of finals, [and a] couple of important matches… I have more stories of matches [against] him compared [to] other players.

“I hope it’s the beginning of something. I hope I will also be able to win some of them.”

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