Stefanos Tsitsipas crushed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday in a one-sided final in the Monte Carlo Open for his first Masters 1000 title and put his success to "learning to breathe". The Greek 22-year-old world number five took just one hour and 11 minutes to beat the Russian, ranked eighth, for the biggest victory in his career, after his triumph in the year-end ATP Finals in 2019. "Breathing is something I`ve been working on the last couple of months with my psychologist," said Tsitsipas, who said he has taken up meditation and is "inspired by Buddhism".

 "I find breathing very important especially when I`m performing or playing, breathing helps me control myself and have full control of what I`m doing out there. "Definitely something that I`ve been putting a lot of work in the last couple of weeks." The Greek`s victory in his seventh match against 23-year-old Rublev gave him a 4-3 advantage in their head-to-head meetings. Tsitsipas believes that his rivalry with Rublev, which started at the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida, could even one day go on to match the epic confrontations involving Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.