BOTH Andrey Rublev and Borna Coric have advanced through to the St. Petersburg Open final the hard way, coming back from a set down against their respective opponents to win in three. Rublev downed second seed and fellow young gun, Denis Shapovalov 4-6 6-3 6-4, whilst Coric took out sixth seed Milos Raonic, 1-6 6-1 6-4.

It was not the results that the Canadian-barracking fans would have liked with both their hopefuls falling in the penultimate stage of the tournament. In the battle between the top three seeds, Rublev took two hours and 10 minutes to knock off Shapovalov, hitting one less ace (8-9), but won 79 per cent of his first serve points.

The competitors were evenly matched across the board with not much separating them, but the Russian managed to save five of six break point opportunities for Shapovalov. After being broken in the first set, Rublev stuck to his guns and broke twice over the next two sets, making the most of minimal opportunities. He said he was thrilled at the level of the match and get away with the win.

“The match was unreal, in my opinion,” Rublev said post-match. “The level was high from both sides. Both of us deserved to win. Shapovalov was leading and he had break point in the second set, so everything could [have] been in two sets for him… One or two points decided the match and today it was for me.”

Meanwhile it was a similar story for Coric who had to come from a shocking first set to bounce back and record a win over Raonic in an hour and 56 minutes. The seventh seed defeated his opponent for the first time having lost to Raonic once before in 2017 at Delray Beach, weathering 18 aces to stand tall and remain consistent. He won 76 per cent of his first serve points to Raonic’s 73 per cent, but it was his work off the Canadian’s second serve that stood out.

Coric won 52 per cent of Raonic’s second serve points and broke three times to two – all coming after the first set loss. The Croatian only won six more points than his opponent all up, but it was enough to get him the win and advance through to the St. Petersburg final.

The pair has played three times in previous matches, with the Russian getting up on all three occasions. With three titles already in the bank this year to bring his career total to five, Rublev is searching for his 14th win in 15 matches since winning at Hamburg, reaching the quarter finals at Roland Garros, and then the final here in Russia.

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