Last year’s champion Daniil Medvedev became the first finalist of the Nitto ATP Finals, the ongoing $ 7.25 million ATP final tournament in Turin. In the semifinals, the Russian very confidently, in less than an hour and a half, outplayed the Norwegian Kasper Ruud in two games.
Daniil Medvedev secured his participation in the semifinals first in the tournament – last Tuesday, while Kasper Ruud – the last, only on Friday. However, in a conversation with a Kommersant correspondent, the Russian advised not to attach any importance to this fact. “On Saturday, everyone will decide completely different things,” Medvedev noted, without specifying, however, which ones, although it was clear that Friday’s battle with Andrei Rublev, following which the Norwegian debutant of the final tournament sensationally took second place in his group, took away he has a lot of strength.
The physical form of the Russian, however, also caused some concern. All three of his matches in the group, Medvedev won in three games, having spent a total of more than seven hours on the court, and endurance was never considered his trump card. In addition, before the semifinals, muscle-protecting plasters appeared on his right arm and left thigh.
Nevertheless, Medvedev played the beginning of the match at a very high level and already in the third game took someone else’s serve, although it is not known whether he would have succeeded if, with the score “evenly”, the opponent, who had competently lured the Russian to the net, had not made a mistake with a second outflanking blow from the left …
In the second game, Medvedev’s advantage became even more tangible. And there was not even the slightest hint that something similar to what happened in the meeting between Ruud and Rublev, who suddenly lost his advantage, could happen in this match. The Russian showed his trademark ideal tennis, based on reliable defense, a sharp transition from defense to attack and complete control over the ball. The Norwegian lost his first serve in the fifth game, which resulted in a Medvedev break. Well, when the same thing happened in the seventh game, everything became completely clear.
As a result – 6: 4, 6: 2 in 79 minutes. Ruud never managed to earn even one break point. Medvedev played the fastest match in the tournament, and this Saturday acceleration can definitely help him in the final.
“Today I managed to do what I was striving for here in every match – to maintain concentration from the first to the last point,” Medvedev shared with Kommersant his feelings after the game. unsuccessfully played two points and got 0:30, I managed not to bring the matter to break points. And on his serve, I was able to impose a fight in several games, and that was enough. In general, the game turned out to be equal. Somewhere he was more mistaken, somewhere I played better. “
In the final, Medvedev’s rival will be Alexander Zverev from Germany, whose game with the first racket of the world Serb Novak Djokovic lasted 2 hours 28 minutes and ended with a score of 7: 6 (7: 4), 4: 6, 6: 3. True, the Russian on Saturday evening did not know this yet.
“There are many aspects in tennis that do not change depending on who you meet in the final, although the tactics, of course, largely depends on the opponent,” Medvedev noted. “If we talk about the difference in approach to the finals against Zverev and Djokovic from the point of view of psychology, everything is ambiguous here. I won the last two meetings with Sasha – in Paris and here in Turin. Novaku lost in the Paris final, but before that he beat him in the US Open final. Can we say that it will be more difficult against Djokovic? On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, when you lose to someone, your motivation increases to prove that you can do better, as I did in New York after I lost the final to him at the Australian Open. From this point of view, I might even be better off playing with Novak than with Sasha. “
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