Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev planned a road trip to Hamburg after Bastad final, ended up taking a flight together

After going head-to-head in the Swedish Open final in Bastad, Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud planned on taking a road trip to Hamburg. However, they ended up sharing a flight instead.

Rublev defeated Ruud 7-6(3), 6-0 in the final for his second ATP title of the year. The Russian, ranked No. 7 in the world, won the Monte Carlo Masters earlier this season, making the Swedish Open title his second on clay in 2023.

The official Instagram handle of the Swedish Open recently stated that with incliment weather delaying flights out of Bastad, Ruud offered Rublev a seat in his car to Hamburg. Both players are set to participate at the ongoing Hamburg European Open.

However, this was not the case, as both players took a flight to Hamburg together, which Rublev confirmed during a recent press conference.

The Russian said that it was only a half-hour flight, adding that it was due to take off at 12 pm, but was delayed by around four hours.

"Yeah, yeah, we fly together, with Casper, and no the flight was amazing, it was only half an hour so the flight was perfect," Rublev said. "The only thing, in the beginning was supposed to fly at 12, and then the guy from the plane, he text us in the morning that there is some, i don't know, there is no spots or something, and the earliest they can do is around 4 pm."

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Andrey Rublev inches closer to Marat Safin record

Day Nine: The Championships - Wimbledon 2023

With his triumph at the Swedish Open, Andrey Rublev lifted the 14th ATP title of his career. This is just one short of Russian tennis icon Marat Safin's tally.

While Andrey Rublev is on course to equal his compatriot’s total number of ATP titles, it is worth noting that Safin also won two Grand Slams - the Australian Open in 2005 and US Open in 2000. Moreover, Safin had also reached the summit of men’s singles rankings, becoming the World No. 1 in November, 2000.

While Rublev will need to do a lot to truly equal Safin’s achievements in the sport, equaling the former player’s tally of ATP titles will also be a significant milestone for him. And given his track record in the ATP 500 and ATP 250 series, it likely won’t take long for Rublev to surpass Marat’s tally.