Daniil Medvedev took a contrast shower – Sport – Kommersant

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In Turin, the Nitto ATP Finals, the $ 7.25 million ATP final competition, ended in the Red Group. In the last of them, the current winner of this tournament, Daniil Medvedev, outplayed the Italian Yannick Sinner, taking the first set dry, and the third in a stubborn tie-break. Thus, taking into account last year, the Russian’s unbeaten run at the Nitto ATP Finals lasted up to eight meetings.

The match between Daniil Medvedev and Yannick Sinner had absolutely no effect on the tournament situation. The fact is that the Russian guaranteed himself a ticket to the semifinals on Tuesday, and Alexander Zverev took the second place in the Red Group, who beat Hubert Khurkach on Thursday afternoon – 6: 2, 6: 4. Nevertheless, tennis out of pure love for art was out of the question in this case, because each victory at the group stage of the Nitto ATP Finals is rewarded with 200 rating points and $ 173,000 in prize money. For comparison, Aslan Karatsev, the champion of the VTB Kremlin Cup tournament in the ATP 250 category, earned 250 points in a week in Moscow and only $ 68 thousand.

“Yannick is a tough player who shoots equally well on the left and right. It’s hard to play with him in his own way, so you will need to prepare well, ”Medvedev told a Kommersant correspondent on the eve of his meeting with Sinner. And, apparently, he studied his opponent’s tennis so well that he did not give up a single game in the first game. Seriously though, the 20-year-old Italian also had a hand in such a bleak development of events for the Turin fans, who apparently just burned out. After all, Sinner knows how to play in the halls – this fall he took titles in Sofia and Antwerp, after which he reached the semifinals in Vienna, getting to the final tournament as a substitute. Moreover, thanks to the victory in Turin over Hubert Hurkach, he will end the season in the top ten, where he will be the youngest player.

Naturally, Medvedev began to think about a blitzkrieg to himself, but that was not the case. Having retired from the court for a break after the end of the party presented to his opponent, Sinner returned with a fighting mood, in the first game he saved a break point on his serve, and in the fourth after a 24-hit rally he took someone else’s. The Russian immediately equalized the situation, but still did not avoid a tie-break. And there everything was decided by one point with the score 5: 5, which Medvedev decided to complete at the net on his serve and received a perfect stroke in response.

The third game was also very interesting. Moreover, it is quite possible that in the history of the final tournament there have not yet been such outstanding matches that would not decide anything.

In the fifth game, after Medvedev’s double mistake, the Italian managed to make a break, and in the seventh game, the Russian began to serve like a machine gun, reducing the average time between points to 12 seconds. Sinner almost increased his lead to 5-2, but instead, after the eighth game, which he failed on his serve, it was 4-4. Then there was an episode when the audience greeted a very beautiful Medvedev gesture – a voluntary admission of the line judge’s mistake and refusal to replay the point in favor of the opponent. And it all ended with a tie-break – already the fourth in the last two matches of the Russian, who reflected two match points and still achieved his goal.

The result of this extremely contrasting match, which lasted two and a half hours, was 6: 0, 6: 7 (5: 7), 7: 6 (10: 8). This means that, taking into account last year, Medvedev’s winning streak in the final tournament has been extended to eight meetings. His next opponent will be determined on Friday in the meeting between Andrei Rublev and Norwegian Christian Ruud, and Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic will play in the other semifinal on Saturday.

Evgeny Fedyakov

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