Rublev wins Qatar ExxonMobil Open title

Doha, Qatar: There was no stopping Andrey Rublev.

The 22-year-old won the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title with a convincing display in the final against young Corentin Moutet, winning 6-2, 7-6(7-3).

The Frenchman threatened to stop him briefly in the second set but made too many mistakes and Rublev had too much of quality to not take advantage of that.

Rublev had just 18 winners against his opponent's 20, but he fared considerably better in the unforced errors column – 20 against 29. 

Rublev has been a picture of consistency at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex throughout the week as he swatted aside the challenges of Mikhail Kukushkin, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Miomir Kecmanovic and Saturday was just a continuation.

World no. 81 Moutet came to the title clash armed with a giant-killing reputation that he had earned in the last few days after beating Milos Raonic, Fernando Verdasco, Stan Wawrinka – and wideout forehand winners.

In the first set, it was all Rublev as Moutet never got his game going. The 22-year-old broke Moutet's serve in the second game of the match and he did it again in the eighth to win the set in just over 30 minutes.

The second set too started in a similar way, with Rublev breaking his opponent's serve right at the start to gain an early advantage.

But out of the blue, Moutet found his groove and broke Rublev in the seventh game.

The 20-year-old's forehand and his defence, which Wawrinka found too strong, was back again as he took the set to the tie-break.

There, Moutet lost his bearings again and at 6-1 Rublev had five championship points.

Though Moutet saved two, Rublev finished it off with a forehand shot after making Moutet scramble from one side to other.

It was Rublev's third ATP Tour title in what is surely a growing list.