Stefanos Tsitsipas of Athens, Greece has won his sixth career ATP event and first career ATP Masters 1000 series event. On Sunday, Tsitsipas, who was seeded fourth, defeated sixth-ranked Andrey Rublev of Russia in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 to win the 2021 Monte Carlo Masters.
Tsitsipas was able to break Rublev three times in the final. Another major reason why Tsitispas was victorious came down to the second serve. Tsitsipas won 72% of his second serve points, while Rublev only won 33% of his second serve points.
Tsitsipas also exemplified steady power and patience. He was never afraid to get into longer rallies with Rublev, and waited to pounce on his opportunities when given the chance.
In addition to Rublev, Tsitsipas beat Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-3, 6-4 in the second round, and 16th-ranked Cristian Garin of Chile in the third round by a score of 6-3, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Tsitsipas beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain after Davidovich Fokina retired because of a left thigh injury when trailing 7-5. Then in the semifinals, Tsitsipas beat Daniel Evans of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1.
Evans made tennis headlines in the third round when he beat world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-4, 7-5. It was Djokovic’s first loss of 2021. The Evans win over Djokovic was one of two significant upsets this week. The other was the Rublev win over the great Rafael Nadal of Spain in the quarterfinals. Nadal, who has won the Monte Carlo Masters 11 times in the past, double-faulted seven times in a surprising 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 result.
The Monte Carlo Masters is the first of a stretch of clay-court events leading up to the French Open next month. Tsitsipas’s five prior ATP wins came at the 2018 Stockholm Open, the 2019 and 2020 Open 13 events in Marseille, France, the 2019 Estoril Open in Portugal, and at the 2019 ATP Finals in London.
