Andrey Rublev ended Novak Djokovic’s run at Serbia Open in the final to win his third tour-level title in Belgrade.
In a hard-fought clash, the second-seed had to dig deep against Djokovic to outlast the home favorite 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-0 at the ATP 250 clay-court event.
After winning the first set with ease, the debutant at the event had to save five set points in the second set to force a tie-break.
While he was unable to prevent Djokovic from leveling the match, Rublev regrouped in the decider as he looked the fitter of the two to triumph after two hours and 29 minutes.
Djokovic was competing in his third event of the season as he aimed to clinch his maiden title of the year against Rublev with him failing to defend his crown at the Australian Open the biggest storyline for the Serb this year.
The 34-year-old, who lost in the quarter-finals in Dubai and suffered a shock second-round defeat against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Monte Carlo had to battle past Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic, and Karen Khachanov in three sets as he continues to work his way back into form.
Rublev quickly found his range in the final as he demonstrated good footwork to dictate on his aggressive forehand.
The second seed continuously forced Djokovic deep behind the baseline as the World No. 8 broke Djokovic twice in the first set and saved the one break point of his own to move ahead.
But Djokovic showed his renowned fighting spirit once again as he began to hit with greater depth and started to win the backhand exchanges to pull into a 2-0 lead.
However, Rublev quickly leveled at 2-2, before he saved two set points in a mammoth service game at 4-5 to hold.
Djokovic then fended off a breakpoint himself at 5-5, before Rublev once again found big serves and heavy forehands at the crucial moment to save three more set points on serve at 5-6 and force a tie-break.
The Serbian would not be denied, though, storming into a 5/2 lead in the tie-break before letting out a roar when he leveled the match.
But the effort the World No. 1 put into the second set seemed to drain him of any fuel in the decider as Djokovic faded fast in the third set, unable to match Rublev’s intensity.
The second seed continued to strike the ball aggressively in the third set and Djokovic had no answers as Rublev soared to victory with a bagel.
With his maiden victory over a World No. 1 in the Serbia Open, the World No. 8 has leveled his Head2Head series against Serbian Djokovic at 1-1, gaining revenge for his defeat at the Nitto ATP Finals last season.
