Andrey Rublev made good predictions that gave him the favorite to beat Grigor Dimitrov and beat the Bulgarian 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes to get into the Indian Wells semi-finals for the first time in his career. He will face this Saturday (9:00 p.m., Sports by M +) the American Taylor Fritz, who defeated the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (7-6 (5), 3-6 and 6-1 in 1h57).
The 24-year-old Russian and world number 7 is on a 13-fight win streak with titles in Marseille and Dubai. He came to the match against the Bulgarian ranked 30th and 35th without losing a single set, just like his rival, and continued his steady pace in search of the final. This is his best result in the tournament and he wants more. Even so, after the meeting he was not entirely happy for an emotional reason: “Today I did not control myself. I let the frustration out. In the end I create problems for myself. It almost cost me a game. But I was lucky to be able to win. I was lucky today. Maybe tomorrow if we play the same match I lose that set (first) and maybe the party.
Rublev served quite well (81% of points won with first and 45% with seconds) and he only had to hit 11 winners to break Dimitrov’s serve six times.semifinalist last year, who was quite discreet in service, especially in a second heat in which he collapsed after resisting quite well in the first, although he was always in tow. He had benefited from Novak Djokovic’s drop in the draw and took advantage of it to reach the quarterfinals, but today he is inferior to Rublev’s generation.
Fritz extends his idyll with Indian Wells
“I love IW” (“I love Indian Wells”), Fritz wrote on one of the ATP television cameras after beating Kecmanovic and reaching the semifinals for the second year in a row at the event held in his birth state, California. The 24-year-old American and 20th in the world, number one in his country, served wonderfully (14 aces and only five lost points with firsts). His aggressiveness (35 winners) was also rewarded and he only committed 12 unforced errors in a remarkable performance before a dedicated crowd.
The Balkan was looking for the first penultimate round of his career, but he couldn’t with a highly motivated Taylor. No local tennis player has reached the semifinals twice in a row since former number one Andy Roddick, who did so in 2009 and 2010. “Those are the moments, the reason I play tennis, the reason I wanted to be a professional athlete when I was a kid. It’s the reason I do it, it’s that moment when you win, finally, you can relax, drop everything. Especially with people, I’m taking it in.”said the winner.
Indian Wells Masters 1,000 results.