Russia’s Andrey Rublev was on cloud nine after he bested teenager Holger Rune to win his first ATP 1000 Masters at the Rolex Monte Carlo. The Russian won 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 against the Danish as he fought back despite being on the back foot.

Rublev lost the opening set but bounced back in the second set to take the match into the decider. In fact, the Russian was trailing by 1-4 in the third set but didn’t give up and made another resounding comeback. Rublev smashed 33 winners as he was at his best at the Court Rainier III.

“I have tears,” Rublev said. “I don’t know what to say to be honest. I don’t know. I am just happy, finally. [I have] been struggling so much to win this freaking Masters 1000 tournament. Finally losing 4-1, Love-30, saving break points, thinking there is no chance to win, and somehow I did it.”

In fact, Rublev had lost against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Monte-Carlo finals and Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati finals in 2021. However, he was able to keep his calm against Rune.

“I was hoping deep inside that at least maybe I would have one chance,” Rublev said. “Maybe at least try to play until the end. Because I remember the previous finals mentally I was not ready and when I was thinking [I had] no chance to win anymore and I was going mentally completely down.

“And today I was at least [thinking], ‘Okay, if you’re going to lose today at least please believe until the end’, and that is what I was trying to do in the third set, hoping that maybe I would have one extra chance to come back or something and in the end I was able to do it.”

Rune had a 3-0 lead in the third set but Rublev was able to make a comeback with some quality shots.

Rublev will now take part in the Banja Luka Open.