Rublev Eases Past Andy Murray

Andrey Rublev won the Mubadala World Tennis Championship by beating mighty Andy Murray in the final in consecutive sets on Saturday. Both players started well, maintaining their serve until the Russian hooked the first pause of the match in the fifth game. This hung out to be powerful as Rublev went on to show his dominance with the first set 6-4.

Rublev took power midway throughout the first stage with a pause of shot in the fifth game on the way to a decisive 1-0 lead. The 24-year-old Russian seemed to be moving to a triumph when he halted Murray in the opening round of the second stage, but the Brit fought back, making the world No. 5 to a tie break. However, Rublev survived Murray to assert the tie break 7-2 and shut the match.

The 34-year-old Murray, a former world number one and three-times Grand Slam winner, got off to a wretched beginning in the second set when he failed to act in the first round before battling back to force a tie-up which Rublev dominated to determine victory.

“I got three good matches here… Andrey played really well today. He’s got a really big game… I just need to find a way to turn some of these matches against these top players around,” said Murray.