Thierry Tulasne, champion in 1985, already has company in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell honors list. Arthur Fils has become this Sunday the second Frenchman capable of winning the Conde de Godó title in the Open Era after defeating Andrey Rublev, 6-2 and 7-6(2). Fils continued his good tennis moment, which had helped him come back from the semi-final against Rafa Jódar.
Few tennis players hit him as hard as Arthur, who has exploited all his qualities alongside Goran Ivanisevic. With the stress fracture in the L5 vertebra forgottenFils passed like a cyclone over the land of RCT Barcelona. The two elimination balls he saved in his debut in the tournament against his compatriot Terence Atmane are far away..
Rublev won the first two games and lost the next seven. The superiority of his rival from the white line was evident every time they exchanged blows. When Arthur hit standing from the forehand, he did it at night to Andrey.
The Russian suffered in each of his turns of service until he took a knee in the sixth game of the continuation. His executioner made him a counter, leaving it impossible to reach.
The nerves appeared in the champion’s racket, who failed to serve at 5-3. He gave it up with a double fault. The pressure was on him and more than it was when he wasted three championship balls with the rest 0-40.
Rublev chained four games, but could not sign a draw on the scoreboard. The outcome was sudden death. “Come on, come on,” shouted the Frenchman as he overcame a 0-2 deficit in the tie break. Theirs would be the last seven points of a final that was a roller coaster.
Of the four Fils titles, three are in the 500 category, and the same number are on clay: Lyon, in 2023, and Hamburg, in 2024. That is why he is excited in Paris, home of Roland Garros, the second big one on the calendar. To find the last place in the list you have to go back to Yannick Noah, in 1984.
The worst classified in 24 years
The tennis player from Bondoufle, 21 years old and ranked 30th, He is the lowest ranked winner of the Godó since Gastón Gaudio, in 2002. The Argentine was then 64th.
