Battling Andrey Rublev ends teen wildcard’s run to reach Hong Kong Open final

HONG KONG: World number five Andrey Rublev overcame a fierce examination from Chinese wildcard Shang Juncheng on Saturday to reach the Hong Kong Open final.

Rublev kept his Australian Open preparations on track and ended the fairytale run of the 18-year-old Shang, who was in his first ATP Tour semi-final, with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 battling victory in 2hr 9min of pulsating tennis at Victoria Park.

In Sunday’s final, the Russian top seed will face Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who beat Austria’s world number 43 Sebastian Ofner 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The dynamic world number 183 Shang has been playing nerveless tennis to beat older and higher-ranked opponents all week.

After accounting for world number 16 Frances Tiafoe in a career-best straight-sets win in the quarterfinal on Friday, Shang was brimming with confidence.

He flew out of the blocks to break the 26-year-old Rublev in the opening game.

Rublev became frustrated as he was unable to convert any of his three break points during the opening set, which Shang sealed emphatically with an ace after 43 minutes.

The combustible Russian, who drew blood when he smashed his racquet into his left knee in anger, faced two more break points in the opening game of both the second set and third sets.

But this time, on each occasion, he held firm and eventually wore down his plucky opponent as his own serve and winners began to find their range. Agencies

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