Daniil Medvedev played his last game of the group stage of the ATP Finals with a certain reluctance if we except its overwhelming beginning. Being already classified as leader of the Red, the Russian relaxed and did not feel comfortable with the public against him, but he still beat the local idol, Jannik Sinner, in a last tiebreaker in which he got serious: 6-0, 6-7 (5) and 7-6 (8) in 2h29. Now he awaits a rival for the semifinals and will emerge from the duel that Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud will have on Friday at 2:00 p.m.
The position of number two in the world was not at stake, but 200 points for the world ranking and 173,000 dollars (about 152,000 euros) for achieving victory were at stake. And he didn’t let them escape. He was also defending a 7-0 streak in the Masters, which leaves him, for the moment, at 8-0 and is the second best after Djokovic’s 15-0 between 2012 and 2015. In the first set he was a machine of surgical precision that unraveled the 20-year-old Italian with a simple swing of blows that were neither excessively powerful nor too soft to which Sinner did not know how to respond. In 26 excellent minutes, good old Daniil committed only three unforced errors. And so he scored a painful blow for his rival and for the fans of Pala Alpitour in Turin.
The second set started with danger for Jannik, one point away from a 7-0 run for the Muscovite, but the transalpine reacted, saved the game and came out on top. So much so that with his first break he put the score at 3-1. Although his joy was short-lived, because Medvedev made the counterbreak immediately. On the way to the jump-off, he made an ugly gesture before a break. Yawn in front of Sinner. Maybe the kid didn’t see it… or he did, because he celebrated almost every point with rage and forced the third set.
Repeated history
The last act was very similar to the previous one. Sinner broke first and Medvedev responded almost immediately. His attitude was not the best in the valley of this partial. Although he is so good that he played second serves as first serves getting aces. And to finish he regained his composure in a neat tie-break in which he saved two match-points. Sinner continues to choke on the top-5. He now has an 0-9 record against them. But he entered as a reserve (for Berrettini), won a match (against Hurkacz), stood up to the champion of the ATP Finals and the US Open, and He leaves with a new experience… and with the promise of coming back stronger.
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