(Reuters) – Andrey Rublev marched into the Vienna Open final after Saturday’s semi-final opponent Kevin Anderson retired with a leg injury in the second set to leave the Russian one win away from securing a Tour-leading fifth title in 2020.
Rublev, ranked eighth in the world, has yet to drop a set at the tournament and moved into the final when South African Anderson retired while trailing 6-4 4-1.
“I don’t know why it’s going so well. I have such an amazing team, such amazing friends around me that always support me and probably that’s why I’m playing so good,” Rublev said in an on-court interview.
“I already (had) a really great season, so I came here to enjoy, to do my best, to fight for every point, every match, and now here I am in the final.”
Anderson is Rublev’s second opponent to retire with injury this week after Jannik Sinner in the last-16 while the Russian also beat injured defending champion Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.
Thiem struggled with blisters on his foot and pulled out of next week’s Paris Masters as a result.
Rublev, 23, will be up against Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who stunned world number one Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Friday and beat Briton Dan Evans 6-3 6-4 in the semi-final.
Sonego, who lost his final qualifier but entered the main draw as a lucky loser, fired 25 winners in the 80-minute contest to advance to only his second ATP Tour final.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
