AFTER making his debut inside the world’s top 20 players last week following a title at Doha, third seed Russian Andrey Rublev could go back-to-back to start the year after making the final of the Adelaide International. He defeated fellow top 20 prospect and second seed, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in three nail-biting sets, while South Africa’s Lloyd Harris continued his dream run from qualifier to finalists following his win over fellow qualifier and American, Tommy Paul.

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All eyes were on Centre Court in Adelaide for the last match of the night yesterday with two future top 10 players going at it hammer and tong. The ultra-consistent Rublev and the fast-serving machine of Auger-Aliassime put on a show in a three-hour marathon in front of excited fans. In the end it was Rublev who marginally took the chocolate, winning 7-6 6-7 6-4 but neither player gave too much away in a game where both had break point opportunities, but few were converted. Rublev secured two breaks from from 10 chances, one crucially coming in the deciding set, while Auger-Aliassime only had the one break from 10 chances. The 19-year-old Canadian served up a whopping 19 aces and only three double faults to win 77 per cent of his first serve points, while the Russian had 10 and six, but converted 75 per cent of his first serve points. It was Rublev’s ability to dig in off the second serve and hold onto 59 per cent of the points, while Auger-Aliassime was a touch lower at 49 per cent. In the end, of the 253 points out on court, Rublev won 129 to Auger-Aliassime’s 124 which showed just how evenly matched the pair was by the end. But Rublev moved on to his second consecutive final and what could be a top 10 ranking if he continues his run at Melbourne Park.

While the earlier semi-final did not come with the same hype as the later one, there was no denying it was a battle of consistent servers who were in terrific form. Harris and Paul had to make their way up from qualifying to face-off in the semi-final after a number of big upsets along the way. In the end, similar to Rublev and Auger-Aliassime’s game, it came down to a simple break, with Harris winning 6-4 6-7 6-3 in two hours and eight minutes. The South African slammed home 13 aces to his opponent’s four, winning 85 per cent of his first serve points while converting four break point opportunities. Paul managed to break twice himself throughout the match, but struggled winning his first serve with just 64 per cent successful. He did make the most of Harris’ second serve however, winning 54 per cent of the points, but was not able to continue the remarkable serving form that got him to that point of the tournament. In saying that, both players boosted their rankings into the 70s from the 90s already, and with the potential to advance at the Australian Open, could move further up the order quickly.

The final between Rublev and Harris takes place following the women’s final, no earlier than 6pm. The 22-year-olds have never played each other, but a win for Rublev would move him up to number 15 in the world, while Harris would shoot up 26 places from 91st to 65th.

Semi-finals results:

[3] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated [2] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 7-6 6-7 6-4
[Q] Lloyd Harris (RSA) defeated [Q] Tommy Paul (USA) 6-4 6-7 6-3