Daniil Medvedev defeated defending champion Andrey Rublev in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to win a third successive title.

Former world number one Medvedev briefly dropped out of the top 10 after an early loss at the Australian Open capped a difficult 12 months but he has responded superbly since.

The Russian claimed ATP Tour titles in Rotterdam and Doha in the last fortnight and, after ending Novak Djokovic's unbeaten start to the season in the semi-finals in Dubai, eased to a 6-2 6-2 victory over friend and countryman Rublev.

After losing his first four professional encounters against his former junior rival, Rublev had hit back with two victories in a row.

But he was outplayed by Medvedev at the top of his game, with the 27-year-old breaking serve in the opening game of the match and easing to victory in an hour and eight minutes.

Medvedev, who heads to Indian Wells next week on a 14-match winning streak, said in an on-court interview broadcast by Amazon Prime Video: 'It's amazing because the start of the year was not perfect.

'In tennis, when you don't win tournaments you're always doubting no matter what happens in practice, so I was doubting a lot and now it just feels better. I'm really happy with these three weeks and looking forward to the next ones.

'It was a very tactical match. I know Andrey can cause a lot of trouble to everyone. Every time we play he tries to make me suffer, I try to make him suffer.

'Today I managed to be on top, but the next match could be a different story.'