The second racket of the world, Daniil Medvedev, failed to reach the semifinals of the French Open and continue the argument with the Serb Novak Djokovic for leadership in the ranking of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). In the last match of the tenth day of the tournament, he lost in three games to the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will now face Alexander Zverev from Germany.
In the match between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, it was difficult to name a clear favorite. The Russian was quite convincing in a series of personal meetings – 6: 1, and the previous one, in the Australian Open semifinals, took place with his noticeable advantage. However, this argument could be opposed by another – the results of the Greek on clay this season. The titles won in Monte Carlo and Lyon, plus the final in Barcelona, meant that in Paris, given the optimal condition, Tsitsipas could even expect to win. In addition, last year he was already in the semifinals of Roland Garros, while Medvedev, finally gaining confidence there, won his first four matches in this tournament last week.
The game, which the organizers of the tournament included in the so-called evening session, which starts this year at Roland Garros at 21 o’clock Paris time, turned out to be quite interesting. At times, the opponents showed very high quality tennis, competing in the art of playing clever combinations and performing short strikes. If Tsitsipas had been a slightly less skillful opponent, and Medvedev, it is possible, would have made it to the semifinals. But in this case, he failed to do this. In case of equality in the power of serving, the Greek looked more reliable in the rallies, making 24 unforced errors against 44, and was more accurate when implementing break points.
The outcome of the first game was decided by the only break made by Tsitsipas in the fourth game. In the second set, he again took the lead, but Medvedev played the serve, and it ended in a tie-break, in which the Greek immediately took the lead – 3: 0 – and did not give up the advantage. The first half of the third set, which consisted of several stubborn games, turned out to be very bright. Medvedev took someone else’s serve in the fifth game, but lost his own in the eighth. And in the twelfth game, leading 40: 0, he lost five points in a row, having served on a matchball from the hand.
As a result – 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 3), 7: 5 in favor of Tsitsipas, who in the semifinals will meet with Alexander Zverev from Germany, who beat the Spaniard Alexander Davidovich Fokina – 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 1 … Medvedev ends his best Roland Garros where he started – in second place in the ATP rankings. But the title of the first racket of the world, for which the Russian claimed, will in any case be retained by the Serb Novak Djokovic, who will play Italian Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals on Wednesday after the 13-time winner of the French Open Rafael Nadal sort out relations with the Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
.